Bradley BSN-to-DNP PMHNP: 750 psychiatric hours plus a practice-change project

The degree at a glance

The DNP PMHNP is BSN entry. It carries the full PMHNP specialty block, seven NUR courses running from the roles seminar through the professional aspects course, the doctoral core shared by Bradley's DNPs plus ECO 605, and the DNP project series NUR 841 to NUR 844, for 72 credits. Bradley's online page estimates 3.7 years across 11 semesters, and the catalog gives doctoral students up to seven years.

The 2026-27 catalog trimmed the program. The 2025-26 version listed 74 credits in its text (73 to 76 in its table) and included NUR 840 DNP Clinical Practice; the current plan drops NUR 840 for the PMHNP doctorate. Board certification runs through the ANCC or AANP psychiatric exam, and the handbook counts your finished DNP project proposal as the comprehensive assessment.

You apply with an accredited BSN, an RN license in good standing and nursing grades averaging 3.0 or better, and the application asks you to discuss possible clinical mentors, so the psychiatric contacts you already have belong there.

Two relationships to build: psychiatric preceptors and a project mentor

The practicum courses need preceptors in mental health settings, each one approved by Bradley together with the site, and each packet sent through DocuSign a semester early, by that term's midpoint. Bradley has published no PMHNP-specific preceptor rules, so faculty and the track's packet decide questions about psychiatrists, psychiatric NPs and how hours are split.

The project courses need a practice mentor, documented in the DNP Project Practice Mentor Packet. Bradley's DNP pages describe projects that change a system or a population's care to improve outcomes, through direct or indirect patient care. In behavioral health that might mean a screening workflow, a follow-up process or a care-transition change; the topic is yours to settle with faculty.

Two project courses lean hardest on the host site. Ethics review happens in NUR 842, through an IRB or Bradley's human subjects committee, and the change itself launches and is measured in NUR 843. A mentor with standing in the organization makes both smoother.

Sequencing the semesters

Eleven semesters sounds like plenty of time, but the psychiatric practicums and the project courses overlap, and every precepted course has a packet due a semester ahead. The order below follows the 2026-27 prerequisites.

1. First semesterClear every Viewpoint Screening item (criminal and drug checks, vaccines, a recent physical, insurance) before the semester reaches its midpoint.
2. Before NUR 684Finish advanced pathophysiology, assessment and pharmacology; NUR 684 then runs with the roles and psychopharmacology courses.
3. During NUR 684Submit the NUR 685 preceptor packet by midterm, unless your cohort's NUR 684 itself needs a preceptor, as Bradley's online page describes.
4. Doctoral coreResearch design, evidence methods and advanced practice leadership must be done before NUR 841, so settle your mentor during them.
5. BreaksBetween terms, project hours count when the last project course is passed, the next one is on your schedule and your mentor agrees.

The clinical placement process page follows each approval step in order.

Why DNP PMHNP students choose us

We plan the psychiatric practicums and the project together. For NUR 685 and NUR 686 we search for mental health practices that see patients across the lifespan; for NUR 687 we find a sub-specialty home, whether forensic, consult-liaison, child and adolescent or late-life psychiatry; and for the project we look for a practice mentor whose organization can host your change.

We check each preceptor's documents before the DocuSign packet goes to Bradley, ahead of each midterm deadline, and confirm the following course during the current one. If anyone steps back, a replacement search opens immediately, and your placement advisor keeps both timelines in one plan so you always know which packet is next. Begin with the form below, or see our process.