Bradley BSN-to-DNP FNP: preceptors, a project mentor and 1,000 hours
Bradley University's BSN-to-DNP in Family Nurse Practitioner asks for two kinds of clinical partner: primary care preceptors for NUR 676 to NUR 679, and a practice mentor for the four DNP project courses. The catalog sets 1,000 clinical hours across 71 credits. We find both, in the right order, and keep every packet complete ahead of Bradley's deadlines.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Bradley program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What the doctorate adds on top of the FNP core
The DNP FNP is a BSN-entry doctorate. It keeps the four FNP practicums of the MSN and adds a doctoral layer: NUR 700 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Science and six more NUR courses in population health, research, evidence-based practice, leadership, policy and informatics, plus ECO 605 in health care economics, before the four-course DNP project series. Bradley's online page estimates 3.3 years across 10 semesters, and the catalog allows up to seven years to finish.
Board certification comes through either the ANCC or the AANP family practice exam. The DNP application asks for an essay and a portfolio, and you must discuss potential mentors for clinical experiences across the lifespan. Bradley's enrollment guide for online doctoral applicants goes further and suggests naming potential preceptors in the essay itself.
Compared with the MSN FNP, the practicum courses and their preceptor rules are identical. What changes is the length of the runway and the second working relationship you build for the project.
How the hours add up, and the 50-hour question
The catalog states 1,000 clinical hours. Add up its own course descriptions, though, and you reach 1,050: 750 in the FNP practicums and 300 in the project courses. The online DNP page reaches a neat 1,000 only because it gives NUR 676 half the catalog's figure, 50 hours rather than 100.
| Course | Focus | Hours |
|---|---|---|
NUR 676 | Primary care, acute conditions (online DNP page: 50) | 100 |
NUR 677 | Primary care, chronic conditions | 150 |
NUR 678 | Women's health, infants, children and adolescents | 200 |
NUR 679 | Primary care immersion, after the bootcamp | 300 |
NUR 841 | DNP Project I, with your mentor | 50 |
NUR 842 | DNP Project II: proposal and IRB approval | 50 |
NUR 843 | DNP Project III: implementation and evaluation | 125 |
NUR 844 | DNP Project IV: final paper and oral presentation | 75 |
Plan your preceptor time for NUR 676 at 100 hours unless your advisor confirms the lower figure in writing; having hours to spare is easier than finding more mid-course. The DNP project hours page covers the project side in depth.
Preceptors for the practicums, a mentor for the project
Your FNP preceptors supervise patient care: nurse practitioners, MDs or DOs in primary care, with most hours under NPs according to Bradley's 2017 FNP webinar. Each one needs a preceptor packet sent through DocuSign, and Bradley signs off on the clinician and the site alike.
The project runs on a separate track. NUR 841 through NUR 844 are completed with a practice mentor you propose, and the handbook names a separate form for that role, the DNP Project Practice Mentor Packet. The catalog frames each project as a practice change at the level of a system or a patient population, aimed at better outcomes.
The third project course, NUR 843, is when the change actually goes live and gets measured, so pick a mentor whose organization can host it and whose leaders will back it. Ethics review comes a course earlier: NUR 842 includes sign-off from an IRB or the university's human subjects committee, and that review needs its own lead time.
Public Bradley material is silent on whether one person can be both an FNP preceptor and your project mentor. Ask your academic advisor before you build a plan around it.
Timing across ten semesters
The DNP FNP has the longest runway of Bradley's three FNP routes, and that helps if you use it. Bradley's 2017 FNP webinar, describing an older curriculum, said DNP FNP students reached clinicals in their eighth semester; your current plan of study in MyOnline shows the real order.
- Doctoral core
NUR 841cannot start untilNUR 705,NUR 720andNUR 735are complete, so mentor conversations can begin while those courses run. - FNP practicums in sequencePathophysiology, health assessment and pharmacology come before
NUR 676; after that each practicum unlocks the next, with every packet due at the halfway mark of the semester before. - One October on campus
NUR 679requires one on-site bootcamp. The online DNP page calls the program 100 percent online and leaves the bootcamp out, but the catalog prerequisite still applies. See the bootcamp page. - Project hours over breaksBreak-time project hours are allowed under the handbook when three things line up: a passing grade in the last project course, registration in the coming one and a yes from your mentor.
Where your clinicals and project can happen
Rotations follow the Clinical Location and Movement rule in the handbook: Bradley expects them in an approved state, either the one on your admission record or the one where you physically reside, and any move or bordering-state rotation goes to your advisor before a new semester begins. Holding RN licensure in each rotation state may be required too.
For doctoral students the state table carries a specific line. A New York resident may enroll but may not place a rotation or a DNP project inside New York, and residents of the District of Columbia face the identical limit at home. Tennessee is listed as not meeting requirements for the FNP; the other 49 states meet them.
A move mid-program can reshape both your preceptor plan and your project site, and our relocation page explains what to check first.
Why DNP FNP students choose us
We run the two searches side by side. On the clinical side we line up primary care preceptors course by course, matched to the patient mix NUR 676 to NUR 679 call for, and we assemble each DocuSign packet, credentials, liability coverage and site information included, well before the prior-semester midterm.
On the project side we find mentors, and organizations willing to host them, whose goals suit a practice-change project, so your NUR 841 start has a mentor waiting. We keep project milestones and clinic days from competing for the same weeks, and we plan your bootcamp October with your preceptor from the start.
If a preceptor or mentor steps away, your placement advisor begins a replacement search at once. Send your plan of study through the form below, or see how our placement process works.
Questions Bradley students ask
Is there a post-master's DNP for nurse practitioners at Bradley?
No. Every Bradley NP doctorate, the FNP included, is BSN entry. The only post-master's DNP Bradley lists is Nursing Leadership, which credits master's hours toward the 1,000-hour minimum. If you have a master's already and want to become an FNP, the post-master's FNP certificate is the matching route.
What counts as the comprehensive assessment in the DNP FNP?
The Graduate Student Handbook says DNP students in every track meet the comprehensive assessment requirement by completing the final DNP project proposal. MSN FNP students take an exit exam in NUR 690 instead. The DNP FNP course list also includes NUR 690, so read your plan of study to see how Bradley applies both.
Can I earn DNP project hours while holding an In Progress grade?
Only in part. Under an In Progress grade, the handbook credits just the hours that finish the open course, nothing beyond. Time on a leave of absence earns nothing, and any project work between semesters also needs your mentor's blessing and your registration in the next project course.
How many preceptors will I need for the DNP FNP?
Bradley publishes no set number. With four FNP practicums you need at least one preceptor per course unless you reuse one; in the 2017 webinar, one clinician could cover two courses. NUR 678 may need two if one practice cannot cover women's health and pediatrics. Add your practice mentor for the project.
Can my DNP project take place at my current employer?
Bradley's public documents leave this open. The professional behaviors policy treats pay for practicum work as a conflict of interest, so keep paid work and project hours clearly apart. Confirm the arrangement with your project faculty and read our workplace practicum page.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Bradley's own catalog, online program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your clinical packet, course faculty and academic advisor have the final word.
Bradley lets you choose your preceptors. We find the ones worth choosing.
Tell us your Bradley track, your city and your next practicum course. We line up preceptors who fit the NUR course and gather the license, CV and malpractice details the DocuSign packet asks for, well before the midterm of the semester before you start.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, mental health settings for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, CV, malpractice coverage and the site address ready for the packet
- Every practicum in your sequence planned together, close to home in your approved state
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next practicum is all we need to begin.