Bradley MSN Nursing and Healthcare Leadership: nurse leaders as preceptors
Bradley University's MSN in Nursing and Healthcare Leadership places you with experienced nurse leaders for two practicums and a quality improvement capstone. The 2026-27 catalog sets 500 practicum hours, while Bradley's online page still says 300 (350 for RN entry). We find nurse managers and executives who fit each course and get your packets to Bradley complete.
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.
From Nursing Administration to Nursing and Healthcare Leadership
Through the 2024-25 catalog this degree was the MSN in Nursing Administration, with 30 credits for BSN entry and 300 practicum hours under a nurse manager or executive preceptor. The 2025-26 catalog renamed it Nursing and Healthcare Leadership and raised the practicum to 500 hours. The 2026-27 catalog sets 40 credits for BSN entry and 49.5 for RN entry, adding M L 630 Healthcare Organizational Strategic Planning and Systems Leadership and NUR 511 Statistical Procedure.
RN-entry students first complete bridge work, including NUR 407, a 50-hour practicum in community health. At the end, the ANCC and AONL executive and leader credentials are open to you. The program is fully online with no campus residency, and the NUR 697 capstone serves as the comprehensive assessment.
The three practicum courses
The first two practicums each run beside a leadership theory course, and the sequence moves from foundational leadership to organizational and systems leadership to a measurable improvement project.
| Course | Credits | Where and with whom | Taken with or after |
|---|---|---|---|
NUR 631 Nursing Leadership Practicum I | 3 | A selected healthcare setting, with experienced nurse leaders | With NUR 630 |
NUR 633 Organizational and Systems Nursing Leadership Practicum II | 3 | Alongside nursing leaders in diverse settings | After NUR 630 and NUR 631, with NUR 632 |
NUR 697 Capstone Project in Nursing | 4 | A quality improvement project in a selected setting, working closely with a nurse leader | After NUR 630 to NUR 633 and ATG 610 |
The catalog flags practicum courses with a note that they require a preceptor. NUR 697 carries that flag in the RN-entry table but not in the BSN-entry table, so treat it as precepted and confirm in the clinical packet. The handbook lists one leadership clinical packet, covering NUR 631, NUR 633 and NUR 697, inside MyOnline.
500, 300 or 350 hours
The catalog and the online page disagree by 200 hours. The 2026-27 catalog sets 500 practicum hours with experienced nurse leaders, plus 50 community hours for RN entry. Bradley's online leadership page says 300 hours for BSN entry and 350 for RN entry, and labels NUR 697 as 4 credits with 200 practicum hours.
No Bradley source gives separate hour counts for NUR 631 or NUR 633, so public material alone cannot tell a preceptor how many hours each course needs. That is the first thing a nurse leader will ask before agreeing.
Ask your academic advisor which figure your catalog year uses, and get the per-course targets from the leadership clinical packet before you approach anyone. The clinical hours page shows this conflict alongside the NP tracks.
Get the hour targets for NUR 631 and NUR 633 from the clinical packet before you ask a nurse leader to commit; public sources give only program totals.
What makes a strong leadership preceptor
The catalog asks for experienced nurse leaders; the older catalog named a nurse manager or executive. In practice that points to nurse managers, directors and chief nursing or patient care officers, chosen to match the course: unit-level leadership for NUR 631, organization and systems work for NUR 633, and a leader who can sponsor a real improvement project for NUR 697.
Bradley's welcome site for leadership students says you take an active role in finding the clinical site and preceptor, with support from the Department of Nursing. The policy rules match those for NP students: an active, unencumbered license, no relatives as preceptors, and no pay for practicum work.
The rules on precepting at your own employer are not published. If you already hold a management role, read practicums at your workplace before you plan around your own organization.
Planning the NUR 697 capstone
The capstone is a quality improvement practicum carried out in a selected setting with a nurse leader. It comes last, after NUR 630 through NUR 633 and ATG 610 Healthcare Budgeting and Financial Management, so you reach it with the leadership and finance courses behind you.
Choose the capstone setting while you are still in NUR 633. A leader who has seen your earlier practicum work can point you toward an improvement need in the organization, and the NUR 697 packet must be in by the middle of the term before the capstone, as with any clinical course.
Bradley must also hold an agency agreement with the leader's organization, which its online education office arranges. The agency agreement page explains the lead time, which can be longer when a health system uses its own contract.
Clearance, Typhon and state rules still apply
Leadership students clear the same requirements as NP students, uploading a criminal background check, drug test results, vaccine records, a physical and insurance proof to Viewpoint Screening before their first midterm, and answering any follow-up notice within 24 hours. Each practicum day's hours are logged in Typhon within a week.
Bradley's state table covers only the NP tracks, so the leadership degree has no state-by-state licensure listing. The handbook's location rule still applies: practicum hours happen in the approved state you entered from or now call home, and Bradley can ask for RN licensure wherever a practicum sits. The Viewpoint Screening page covers the clearance items one by one.
If your leadership placement sits inside a hospital or health system, that system may run its own student approval steps on top of Bradley's. Build that extra time into your first practicum plan.
Why leadership students choose us
This degree needs nurse leaders rather than clinical providers, and that is the search we run, across hospitals, health systems, long-term care and community organizations near you. For each course we look for a leader whose role fits its focus, confirm the site, and gather the documents the leadership packet asks for, so the DocuSign packet arrives complete.
We line up NUR 633 while NUR 631 runs and open the capstone conversation early, so your NUR 697 leader and project idea are settled before the packet deadline. If a leader changes roles mid-course, your placement advisor finds a replacement promptly, briefed on where you are in the course so your hours carry on. Use the form below to tell us your entry route, or read how it works.
Questions Bradley students ask
Can my own nurse manager be my Bradley leadership preceptor?
Bradley's public documents do not address precepting by your own supervisor or at your own employer. What policy does rule out is a relative as preceptor and being paid for practicum work. Raise the idea with your academic advisor before asking your manager, and keep a second option ready in case the answer is no.
Do leadership students need to attend anything in Peoria?
No. The leadership MSN is delivered entirely online without any residency, and the catalog attaches no bootcamp to it. Your practicum time happens with nurse leaders in your own area, on a schedule you set with them, so the only travel is to their workplace.
What certification can I earn after the leadership MSN?
Two organizations are named in the catalog, the ANCC and AONL, both offering nurse executive and nurse leader credentials. Those bodies set their own eligibility rules, including any leadership experience they require, so check the certifying body's criteria before you plan around an exam date.
How many credits is the Bradley leadership MSN?
The 2026-27 catalog lists 40 credits for BSN entry and 49.5 for RN entry. Bradley's online page shows 30 to 31 and 39 to 40, yet its own course list adds to 37 for BSN entry and leaves out NUR 511. Your advisor can confirm which catalog year and plan apply to you.
Is there a doctorate to follow the leadership MSN?
Yes. Bradley's post-master's DNP in Nursing Leadership accepts RNs with a master's, credits documented clinical hours from the master's program toward the 1,000-hour doctoral minimum, and adds 300 practicum hours with a practice mentor. Applicants discuss potential practice mentors in the application, so capstone contacts from this MSN can carry forward.
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 University catalog 2026-27: MSN Nursing and Healthcare Leadership
- Bradley University catalog 2026-27: NUR course descriptions
- Bradley University Online: MSN Nursing and Healthcare Leadership
- Bradley University Online: Nursing Leadership welcome site
- Bradley University Department of Nursing: Graduate Student Handbook (rev. 5/8/2026)
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.