Sacred Heart University's post-master's DNP: practice hours, mentor and project site
Sacred Heart University's post-master's DNP is 34 credits over three years full time or four part time, built around a DNP project at a practice site you can choose in your own community. The target is 1,000 practice hours, and documented MSN hours count toward it. We find the practice mentor and project site early enough for Sacred Heart's 6 to 8 month contract window.
Find your DNP mentor and site
Tell us your project area and where you live.
What the post-master's DNP is
The catalog calls it the Post Masters Doctor of Nursing Practice Hybrid Program. It is designed as a 3-year full-time sequence with an optional 4-year part-time plan, and admission is rolling. Applicants need an MSN with a 3.0 GPA and a current U.S. RN license in their state of residence. Sacred Heart's disclosures and Forms page also describe an online version, and the registrar lists a Post MSN-DNP Hybrid and an Online PM/DNP on two different calendars, so confirm which format and calendar are yours.
The 34 credits combine doctoral core courses, a four-part DNP project and a 6-credit elective pair in leadership or education. The guide attaches practice hours to most of them:
| Course | Credits | Practice hours |
|---|---|---|
NU 604 Health Care Research and Statistical Foundations | 3 | None listed |
NU 700 Theoretical Components of Nursing Science | 3 | 15 |
NU 710 Healthcare Policy, Advocacy, & Ethics | 3 | 60 |
NU 720 Leading Quality Initiatives & Information Systems | 3 | 30 |
NU 743 Epidemiology and Population Health | 3 | 30 |
NU 745 Evidence Based Practice | 3 | None listed |
NU 810 and NU 820 DNP Scholarship & Advanced Practice I and II | 3 each | 60 each |
NU 821 to NU 824 DNP project courses | 1 each | 30 each |
Two electives: NU 760 and NU 783 (leadership), or two of NU 588, NU 589, NU 619, NU 690 (education) | 6 | 30 per elective |
1,000 hours, with your MSN counted
The PM/DNP student guide requires a minimum total of 1,000 practice hours. Practice hours from your master's program count toward that total with official documentation, and the program page tells applicants their MSN clinical hours can go toward the DNP requirement. The DNP courses themselves supply 435, on both the leadership and the education track. The catalog prints no hour figure for this program, so the guide is your reference.
Your starting arithmetic is simple: documented MSN hours plus the 435 course hours. Whatever remains below 1,000 is the gap to plan for, and your program director is the person who confirms how it will be met. Project implementation hours are logged in E*Value. The DNP 1,000-hour page compares both Sacred Heart DNPs.
The education electives bring their own practicums. NU 619 requires a practicum involving direct patient care under a preceptor, NU 690 includes a role practicum, and the optional supplemental courses NU 741 and NU 742, which sit outside the 34 credits, each require a practicum too.
The practice mentor
You name a clinical practice mentor during NU 821 DNP Project Topic Development. Sacred Heart looks for depth in your chosen area rather than a particular degree, so a DNP is not required. The guides offer examples ranging from doctorally prepared APRNs and other doctoral professionals to specialty-trained physicians and nurses in senior administration.
The mentor also needs enough standing in the organization to get you in the door. Expect a signed practice mentor agreement, mentor evaluations at your proposal and final presentations, and an evaluation form from the mentor in both NU 810 and NU 820. Your practice hours and project must stay distinct from your current job, which matters if the idea comes from your own workplace.
Project settings follow the project. Sacred Heart's existing agreements already reach hospitals, primary care and specialty offices, home care, community agencies, care management organizations and schools, so ask whether your preferred site is already under contract.
The project site, the contract and Sacred Heart's deadlines
The PM/DNP guide welcomes students to locate their own practice sites in their own communities, with one caution: a new contractual arrangement may take 6 to 8 months. Both the Contract Request Form for the implementation site and the practice mentor agreement must be in before NU 823 DNP Project Proposal Presentation ends. The deadline page sets these dates beside the NP programs' rules. In the web's full-time plan, the sequence runs like this:
- NU 821, year two fallChoose topic, mentor and site, and open talks with the site's contract contact. The FNP/DNP guide advises starting the contract work here.
- NU 822, year two springEvidence review, recommendations and proposal development while the contract moves forward.
- NU 823, year two summerContract Request Form and practice mentor agreement due before the course ends, in the same term as your proposal presentation.
- IRB approvalThe DNP guides also require Sacred Heart IRB approval for the project.
- NU 810 and NU 820, year threeA Cleared for DNP project email in each course, with project hours logged in E*Value.
The timing trap: the PM/DNP guide's start-early advice names NU 823, the same course in which the paperwork is due. A new contract can take 6 to 8 months, so begin in NU 821, two terms earlier.
On-campus days and where you can train
Sacred Heart describes the campus requirement two ways. The catalog lists an orientation and one required residency over the whole program; the program page describes occasional on-campus, full-day meetings once per term. Check your cohort's schedule with your advisor. Where intensive days apply, the DNP guides treat absence seriously: a single non-emergent absence can mean retaking the course.
Location is more open than in the NP programs. Because the post-master's DNP does not lead to advanced practice licensure, Sacred Heart's State Authorizations page allows its students to complete required clinical preceptorships at agencies in New York, which FNP and PMHNP students cannot do. The New York clinical rule explains the difference. Plan on an active RN license in the state where your site sits, and confirm any state-specific rules with your advisor.
Why post-master's DNP students choose us
DNP students choose us because the hard part of this degree is the mentor and the project site, and we plan both thoroughly from the first week of NU 821.
- A practice mentor who meets Sacred Heart's standard: an expert in your project area, positioned to open the organization to you.
- A project site in your own community, approached with room for a 6 to 8 month contract.
- The site's contract contact ready for the Contract Request Form and the practice mentor agreement before the end of
NU 823. - A practice-hour plan that starts from your documented MSN hours and the 435 course hours.
- Preceptors for the
NU 619andNU 690practicums if you take the education electives. - A replacement search right away if a mentor or site falls through.
Mentor approval and site contracts rest with Sacred Heart; we make sure every document it needs arrives complete on the first try. Tell us your project area through the form below.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Can my employer be my DNP project site?
It can be, with care. The DNP guides require a clear distinction between your current employment and your practice hours and project, and the Contract Request Form has a question about working at the site. Choosing a project and a mentor clearly separate from your daily role makes that distinction easier to show. Our workplace clinicals page covers the questions to expect.
How do I count my MSN hours toward the 1,000?
The PM/DNP guide counts practice hours from your master's program when you provide official documentation. The public sources do not spell out what that document must be, so ask your program director or check the student guide before you start, and request the record from your master's school early if it has to come from outside Sacred Heart.
What grades does the post-master's DNP require?
A B- or better in every required nursing course, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and no professional or clinical warnings. The catalog also allows up to 6 transfer credits. Because the practice hours sit inside graded courses such as NU 810 and NU 820, a missing mentor or site becomes a grade risk, not only a scheduling one.
Is Sacred Heart's DNP accredited?
Yes. The CCNE directory lists Sacred Heart's Doctor of Nursing Practice with initial accreditation on November 7, 2012, most recently reaffirmed on September 25, 2019, and a term that runs through June 30, 2030. The accreditation page lists the dates for every Sacred Heart nursing program.
What happens in NU 810 and NU 820?
Each is a 3-credit DNP Scholarship & Advanced Practice course with 60 practice hours. Sacred Heart frames them as practice immersions you build yourself after assessing your own competencies against the AACN Essentials. NU 820 requires NU 810. Each also requires a Cleared for DNP project email, so your site contract must be settled well before year three.
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 2026-27 Graduate Catalog, Post Masters DNP Hybrid Program
- Sacred Heart University, PM/DNP Hybrid Nursing Program Student Guide 2026-27
- Sacred Heart University, Post-Master's Doctor of Nursing Practice
- Sacred Heart University, Post-Master's DNP curriculum
- Sacred Heart University Online, State Authorizations
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
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