Sacred Heart University's hybrid BSN-to-DNP FNP: clinicals and practice hours
Sacred Heart University's hybrid BSN-to-DNP Family Nurse Practitioner program is 69 credits over 36 months full time, mixing online courses with about six on-campus classes each semester. It is the one Sacred Heart NP program where placement is shared: you arrange the NU 552 observation, and the FNP/DNP Clinical Placement Coordinator works with you on every later clinical course. We support both halves, and the DNP practice site too.
Plan your FNP/DNP placements
Tell us your cohort year and your next clinical course.
How the hybrid program is set up
The catalog names it the Post Baccalaureate to Doctor of Nursing Practice Program/Family Nurse Practitioner Program, and the website calls it the DNP FNP. It runs as a cohort, full time over 36 months or part time over four years, with courses every fall, spring and summer. Online classes combine with on-campus days that include hands-on work in an ultrasonography clinic and a skills lab.
Campus attendance is strict. An intensive day means 8 hours of classroom education; missing one for a non-emergent reason may mean repeating the course, and a student who misses two may receive a failing grade and will be dismissed. The residencies page compares this rhythm with the online programs.
The program is authorized by Connecticut's Office of Higher Education to prepare students for Family Nurse Practitioner licensure with a DNP degree, and Sacred Heart's DNP holds CCNE accreditation through June 30, 2030.
The full-time plan
Sacred Heart's web curriculum lays out the full-time sequence below. Clinical courses begin in year two, once pathophysiology, pharmacology and the DNP foundations are behind you.
| Year | Fall | Spring | Summer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NU 549, NU 566, NU 710 | NU 556, NU 604, NU 720 | NU 557, NU 700 |
| 2 | NU 552, NU 743, NU 783 | NU 562, NU 745, NU 821 | NU 760, NU 822, NU 823 |
| 3 | NU 622, NU 810, NU 831 | NU 632, NU 820, NU 824, NU 832 | None |
NU 552 Advanced Health Assessment, in the second fall, is the first course with clinical hours. Three primary care courses and two clinical immersions follow, while the DNP project runs from NU 821 through NU 824 alongside them. The part-time option spreads the same courses over four years.
Clinical courses and who arranges each
The hybrid program splits the work of finding placements. The table shows the student guide's hours and who arranges each course; the FNP/DNP clinical courses page covers each course in depth.
| Course | Clinical hours | Arranged by |
|---|---|---|
NU 552 Advanced Health Assessment for NP | 8 to 10 observation hours (the guide's table lists 15) | You, at a site with an active affiliation agreement |
NU 562 Primary Care I | 120 | The Clinical Placement Coordinator, with your active search |
NU 622 Primary Care II for FNP/DNP | 180 | The Clinical Placement Coordinator, with your active search |
NU 632 Primary Care III for FNP/DNP | 180 | The Clinical Placement Coordinator, with your active search |
NU 831 Clinical Immersion I | 60 | Designed around your clinical interests, arranged with the coordinator |
NU 832 Clinical Immersion II | 60 | Designed around your clinical interests, arranged with the coordinator |
The NU 552 observation pairs you with an NP, physician or PA and focuses on physical assessment. For later courses, Sacred Heart's compliance update lists NP, MD or PA preceptors, and other guides list MD, DO, APRN or PA. Clinical hours cannot begin before the semester start date and must end by its last day, and a Zoom class does not count as clinical time.
Working with the Clinical Placement Coordinator
After NU 552, the FNP/DNP Clinical Placement Coordinator becomes your partner: each later course needs a site and an approved preceptor settled through that coordinator before its start date. The guide still counts on you to hunt for leads yourself, drawing on everyone you know professionally and personally.
- Bring your own leadsShare promising sites you have found and talk through the rotations ahead.
- Ask for a matchUsing the coordinator's placement resources gets you a suitable open site, possibly anywhere in Connecticut, New Jersey or a nearby state, with New York excluded. An older update that is still linked limits that to Connecticut.
- Accept it as givenOnce you request that help, the placement you receive is a binding commitment.
- Decline only for causeWith an extensive, legitimate reason you may decline, and you then find your own site, subject to the Program Director's approval.
- Independent placementsThe Program Director and course faculty sign off, and a contract must be executed before you start; your Contract Request Form begins it.
The decision that matters most: once you ask the coordinator for a match, the result is binding. Settle what distance and schedule you can accept, and bring your strongest lead, before you ask.
Clinical hours and practice hours
The guide counts two kinds of hours. Its course table gives 615 clinical hours, from NU 552 (15), NU 562, NU 622, NU 632, NU 831 and NU 832. It gives 450 practice hours in the DNP courses: 60 each in NU 710, NU 810 and NU 820; 30 each in NU 720, NU 743, NU 760, NU 783 and each of NU 821 to NU 824; and 15 each in NU 549 and NU 700.
Its policy sets minimums of 500 clinical and 500 practice hours, and at least 1,000 clinical and practice hours after the bachelor's degree. The catalog prints a different figure, a minimum of 435 practice hours, which matches the post-master's DNP guide's course total. The DNP 1,000-hour page lays these numbers side by side; your program director settles them for your cohort.
Timing and compliance
The hybrid program follows Sacred Heart's semester calendar rather than the online FNP's week-10 rule, which the deadline page explains. For 2026-27, fall classes begin August 31, 2026 and spring classes January 19, 2027, with summer sessions starting May 24 and July 7.
- Your Health Account must be complete 30 days ahead of the first
NU 552class, then renewed annually. An older update said two weeks before any clinical course. - A criminal background check and drug screen come before any clinical attendance, along with Nurse Practitioner Student Malpractice Insurance.
- The Connecticut Hospital Association Health & Safety Test, where 85 is the bar, is due before your first course.
- Each semester has placement deadlines for student-arranged rotations, and missing one can end a tentative placement. The dates are not public, so ask the coordinator.
- Clinical hours fit inside the semester dates, so a late clearance shortens the time you have to finish them.
The DNP project, practice mentor and site
During NU 821, every student identifies an external practice mentor at the setting where the DNP project will run. Sacred Heart wants real expertise in your project area; a DNP is optional, but the mentor's role inside the organization must be senior enough to get you access. Your paid job and your practice hours and project must stay clearly separate.
- NU 821Settle topic, mentor and site, and start the contract now, because contracting a new site can run 6 to 8 months.
- Before the end of NU 823File the Contract Request Form for the practice site, and send the NU 823 Practice Site & Implementation form to your advisor and to Clinical Placement at practicesiteprojimplement@sacredheart.edu.
- IRB approvalThe project also needs Sacred Heart IRB approval.
- NU 810 and NU 820Each course requires a Cleared for DNP project email, and your mentor completes a Practice Mentor Evaluation Form in each.
Why hybrid FNP/DNP students choose us
Hybrid students choose us because we are thorough inside Sacred Heart's shared model: we strengthen your part of the search and give the coordinator better options.
- An
NU 552observation host found and checked: an NP, physician or PA at a site that holds, or can obtain, an affiliation agreement with Sacred Heart. - Strong leads for
NU 562,NU 622andNU 632to bring to the Clinical Placement Coordinator, which can land closer to home than a coordinator match. - Independent placement files prepared for Program Director and course faculty review, with Contract Request Form details ready.
- A practice mentor and project site identified during
NU 821, with time to spare for the contract. - Clinic days planned around intensive days, since one missed day can cost a course.
- A replacement search right away if a preceptor you arranged steps away.
Placement approvals and contracts belong to Sacred Heart; what we deliver is a clean, complete file the first time. Start with the form below.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Who can apply to Sacred Heart's BSN-to-DNP FNP?
The catalog asks for a bachelor's degree with a 3.0 GPA, an unencumbered RN license, an undergraduate health assessment course of 30 hours or more, undergraduate statistics and an interview by invitation. It prefers one year of nursing experience and says new graduates will be considered. The web admission list adds a roughly two-page essay and leaves out the experience line.
When are the BSN-to-DNP application deadlines?
Sacred Heart's program page invites applications for 2027 enrollment with a priority deadline of December 1, 2026 and a final deadline of February 1, 2027. The admission requirements page describes rolling admissions instead. Apply by the priority date if you can, and confirm with admissions which rule governs your cohort.
What happens in NU 831 and NU 832?
Both immersions are 2-credit, 60-hour courses shaped around your own clinical interests. Sacred Heart describes specialty clinical experiences and procedure workshops, and the courses also prepare you for boards. NU 831 follows NU 823, and NU 832 follows NU 831. Share your specialty interest with the coordinator early so the site fits it.
Where are the FNP/DNP health forms kept?
Sacred Heart's compliance update places the FNP/DNP health forms on Blackboard, in the FNP/DNP Clinical Placement Organization within Clinical Compliance. Your completed items go into the Health Account, which the update describes as covering background screening, drug testing and compliance tracking. Check the organization before each semester for current forms.
Can FNP/DNP clinical hours be done in New York?
No. The FNP/DNP leads to APRN licensure, and Sacred Heart cannot offer those clinical placements in New York; residents there complete hours in a neighboring state, holding that state's RN license, as the New York clinical rule explains. The DNP/FNP also shares the FNP's "No" states in the disclosure table.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Sacred Heart's own catalog, program pages and 2026-27 student guides. Your student guide, your academic advisor and your course faculty have the final word.
- Sacred Heart University, FNP/DNP Hybrid Nursing Program Student Guide 2026-27
- Sacred Heart University 2026-27 Graduate Catalog, Post Baccalaureate to DNP/FNP
- Sacred Heart University, Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner DNP
- Sacred Heart University, FNP/DNP curriculum
- Sacred Heart University, FNP/DNP Hybrid Compliance Language Update
Sacred Heart asks you to secure your clinical placement. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care of adults, women and children for FNP, psychiatric care across the lifespan for PMHNP
- Preceptor CV, license, board certification and the site's contract contact ready before your week-10 deadline
- Close to home in any state where Sacred Heart's program meets licensure requirements, with New York's rule planned around
Start your placement plan
Program, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.