NURS 671, 672 and 673: the Community Health practicum

Three courses, with the community as client

The sequence moves from studying a community to planning programs for it. The 2026-27 catalog describes the three practicums like this:

The concentration's other courses are HLTH 501, HLTH 503, HLTH 505 and NURS 523. Older numbers with matching titles, NURS 631, 632 and 633, remain in the course list, so do not be thrown if an old document uses them.

300 hours across the three

The plan footnote sets 300 practicum hours for the concentration and stops there. Liberty publishes no split between NURS 671, 672 and 673, and no telehealth or simulation allowance for MSN practicum hours. The syllabus for each course in Canvas is where that term's target appears.

Because NURS 671 is built around community assessment and population data, ask your faculty early how that kind of work counts toward hours, and whether it must happen at your contracted site.

Older rules from the 2022-23 MSN handbook, which may have changed, set the frame: no less than 80% of hours under a preceptor's supervision, and no more than a tenth each for professional development and for goal development or research. The same handbook limited you to one practicum course per sub-term and counted hours only inside term dates. See hours by track for the wider picture.

Prerequisites and the MSN Gate

NURS 671 requires the MSN core, NURS 500, 501, 502 and 503, along with NURS 521 and NURS 527. NURS 672 requires NURS 671, and NURS 673 requires NURS 672, so the three run in strict order with no doubling up.

NURS 527, the School of Nursing MSN Practicum Gate, is a zero-credit course placed in your first semester. Practicum requirements are submitted there, and it must be passed before any practicum course, so Liberty expects your practicum paperwork to start early in the program.

The Gate courses page explains how the Gate works. The Community Health plan does not list the Nurse Educator foundations, NURS 504, 505 and 506, so there is no proctored assessment to arrange before the practicum.

Preceptors and community settings

The current Community Health plan footnote gives the hour total but, unlike the Educator, Administration and Health Policy plans, names no preceptor credential. The dated 2022-23 handbook pointed to a community or public health setting. Its floor for any MSN preceptor was a nursing license in good standing plus a master's degree, or the School of Nursing's sign-off instead, and it listed a doctorate, certification and two years' experience as preferences rather than rules.

The same handbook expected one approved preceptor per course, who completes your end-of-course evaluation. Liberty names community settings only in general terms, so ask the MSN practicum staff whether a specific health department, clinic or nonprofit fits before you approach it.

Working at a community agency already? The dated rules let you use it if the hours are unpaid, an agreement is signed and you train outside your own program or unit. See preceptor requirements for how Liberty screens preceptors.

Clearance and state limits

Community Health students clear the same MSN list before the first practicum course, and a community site may ask for more:

• NURS 527 passed, with your practicum requirements submitted
• An affiliation agreement with the site, or an Attestation of Agreement letter if the facility needs no agreement (per the dated handbook)
• Current American Heart Association CPR
• Immunizations covering MMR, TB, varicella, Hepatitis B and influenza
• HIPAA and bloodborne pathogens sign-offs, a criminal background check and a 10-panel drug screen

Location is the other gate. Liberty's licensure lookup does not approve Community Health practicums in Washington, DC or the territories, even though Nurse Educator and Administration students may train in Washington. Your RN license has to cover the state where you train, and Liberty cautions that a state may set clinical sites aside for its own in-state residential students. See state restrictions.

A three-course community search, planned ahead

Community Health students find their own sites. We look for community and public health nurses near you with an MSN or higher who are open to a Liberty student, and we help you pull together the preceptor's CV, license details and site information for NURS 527. If an agency needs an agreement, we help you find the right person there to receive Liberty's paperwork.

Because the three courses run back to back, we can look ahead for a site that fits the program-planning work in NURS 673 while you are still in NURS 671. If a site withdraws partway through, we keep searching. Liberty approves each preceptor and site, and an agency that already knows where Liberty's paperwork goes is ready for that step. Tell us your area and start term and we will talk through the options near you.