Bradley DNP Nursing Leadership: your master's hours, 300 more and a practice mentor
Bradley University's DNP in Nursing Leadership is the one post-master's doctorate in Bradley's nursing lineup. It counts documented clinical hours from your master's toward the 1,000-hour minimum, adds 300 practicum hours in the DNP project courses with a practice mentor, and uses NUR 840 to close any remaining gap. We find the mentor and host organization that suit your project.
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.
Who the program admits
The DNP Leadership takes RNs who hold a master's degree: an MSN from a CNEA-, ACEN- or CCNE-accredited program, or a master's in another field paired with a nursing BSN. Admission also asks for a current RN license, a 3.0 nursing GPA and a professional portfolio with a resume and documentation of the supervised clinical clock hours from your master's program. The online page adds an undergraduate statistics course.
Applicants must discuss potential practice mentors for their practice-change project, so your mentor search starts in the application itself. Bradley's online page estimates 3 years across 9 semesters with no campus residency.
Bradley's other doctorates are BSN-entry NP programs, which makes this the only one built on a completed master's. That is also why your earlier hours matter so much here.
How the 1,000 hours are built
The AACN sets a minimum of 1,000 clinical hours for the practice doctorate, and Bradley reaches it here in three layers. The first is your master's: the supervised hours you document in the admission portfolio are credited toward the total. The second is the 300 practicum hours built into the four DNP project courses. The third, only if needed, is NUR 840 DNP Clinical Practice, which supplies the practicum hours still required to reach the practice doctorate.
That makes the portfolio more than an admission formality: the hours you can document shape how much NUR 840 your plan includes. The catalog notes that NUR 840 may not be taken by all students, and Bradley's online page simply advertises 1,000 clinical hours.
| Course | Credits | Practicum hours | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
NUR 840 DNP Clinical Practice | Variable | As needed toward 1,000 | Fills any gap left after master's hours |
NUR 841 DNP Project I | 3 | 50 | Project start with your mentor |
NUR 842 DNP Project II | 3 | 50 | Proposal and IRB approval |
NUR 843 DNP Project III | 3 | 125 | Implementation and evaluation |
NUR 844 DNP Project IV | 3 | 75 | Final paper and oral presentation |
The NUR 840 credit puzzle
Bradley's sources describe NUR 840 three ways. The catalog program page shows it at 0 to 14 credits with a 14-hour maximum; the course description lists 1 to 4 credits, repeatable up to 15; and the online page lists it at 2 credits. The catalog text also puts the degree at 36 to 53 credits while its course table totals 39 to 53.
The practical question is how many NUR 840 credits and hours your own plan carries, and that depends on the clock hours your master's documents. Ask your advisor to confirm the figure in writing early, because the catalog marks clinical and practicum courses as requiring a preceptor, so NUR 840 hours need a site and a supervisor too.
The DNP project hours page compares this track with Bradley's NP doctorates, where the project courses play a different role.
Choosing a practice mentor and host organization
Bradley's catalog places the 300 project hours with a practice mentor. The handbook lists a DNP Leadership clinical packet for NUR 840 and a separate DNP Project Practice Mentor Packet, both inside MyOnline. Bradley's DNP pages frame the project as system or population change that improves outcomes through direct or indirect patient care.
For a leadership project, look for a mentor with authority over the process you want to change and access to the data you will need to evaluate it. NUR 842 includes IRB approval, or approval from Bradley's Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research, and NUR 843 is where the change is implemented and measured, so the host organization's willingness matters as much as the mentor's.
Public Bradley material does not state the mentor's required credentials. Check the mentor packet and ask your project faculty; the preceptor requirements page collects what Bradley has published about clinical supervisors.
Rules for project hours
The Graduate Student Handbook applies the same hour rules to DNP Leadership students as to the NP doctorates, with a few that apply only to project courses:
- No practicum hours before the scheduled semester starts.
- Every practicum day goes into Typhon inside a week.
- Break-period project hours need three things: a pass in the prior project course, enrollment in the following one and your mentor's approval.
- With an In Progress grade, only the hours needed to finish that course count.
- No hours count during a leave of absence.
NUR 841starts afterNUR 705,NUR 720andNUR 735.
Clearance through Viewpoint Screening is due by midterm of your first semester, as in every graduate track; the clinical deadlines page puts it on a calendar.
Certification, states and what the degree leads to
Bradley's sources differ on outcomes. In the catalog, finishers qualify for executive or leader exams through the ANCC or AONL; the online page, by contrast, disclaims any design to prepare graduates for a particular license or certification. Ask admissions how Bradley describes it for your purposes.
The leadership doctorate is absent from Bradley's state licensure table, which covers the NP tracks only. The handbook's location rule still governs where your hours happen: an approved state, meaning your state at admission or your state of residence, with any move raised before a new semester. See relocating during the program.
If your mentor's organization is across a state line, Bradley may ask you to hold an active RN license in that state as well, so check before you settle on a host.
Why DNP Leadership students choose us
Your doctorate rests on one relationship more than any other, and we put our effort there. We look for practice mentors and host organizations whose priorities match your practice-change idea, check that the organization can support implementation and evaluation, and gather what the mentor packet asks for so it reaches Bradley complete.
If your plan includes NUR 840, we line up a site for those hours too, timed around your project milestones. If a mentor changes jobs mid-project, your placement advisor starts on a replacement right away, with your project stage and data needs already in hand. Your packets are ready well before each midterm deadline, which keeps paperwork off your project's critical path. Describe your project idea in the form below, or see how it works.
Questions Bradley students ask
Do my master's clinical hours count toward the Bradley DNP?
Yes. The catalog says clinical hours from your master's program are credited toward the AACN's 1,000-hour minimum, and admission asks for documentation of supervised clinical clock hours in your portfolio. Gather transcripts, practicum logs or letters that show those hours before you apply, since they shape your NUR 840 requirement.
Does the DNP Leadership have a campus residency?
No. The doctorate is taught fully online, and Bradley lists no residency or campus visit for it. Your in-person time is at your project site with your practice mentor, on a schedule worked out between you, your mentor and your project faculty.
Who can serve as my practice mentor?
Public Bradley material lists no mentor credentials for the leadership doctorate. The DNP Project Practice Mentor Packet in MyOnline sets the requirements, and your project faculty approve the choice. Relatives are barred as preceptors under the Graduate Professional Behaviors Policy, and it is wise to apply the same caution to a mentor.
Can I do the DNP project at my own workplace?
Bradley's documents do not answer this directly. A project at your own organization may be practical, but the rule against being paid for practicum work and any conflict of interest need a clear plan. Discuss it with your project faculty early, and read our workplace practicum page.
How long does the Bradley DNP Leadership take?
Bradley's online page estimates 3 years over 9 semesters, and its duration widget shows 32 months. The catalog allows up to seven years for DNP requirements. NUR 840 credits, if your plan needs them, can add time, so settle that number early with your advisor.
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
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