Bradley NUR 407: the 50-hour community health practicum

Q: When in my program should I take NUR 407?

The catalog lets you take it with or after NUR 404, and your program of study in MyOnline sets the exact term. Count back from that term: the DocuSign packet is due by midterm of the semester before, and Viewpoint Screening clearance must be finished by midterm of your first semester.

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Bradley Preceptor placement team

NUR 407 Community Health Practicum RN-MSN is the one clinical course in Bradley University's RN-entry bridge: 50 practicum hours with a qualified preceptor in a community or population health setting, taken with or after NUR 404. It comes before any specialty practicum, which can make it your first run through the preceptor packet, the agency agreement and Typhon.

Get matched Chat now

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.

Name

Phone

Program

Clinical start

City and state

By sending this you agree we may reply by email, call or text about your placement. Message and data rates may apply; reply STOP to opt out. Privacy

50practicum hours under a qualified preceptor

1.5credits in the 2026-27 catalog, up from 1.0

Numbered steps. From the first call to 50 logged hours: 1 Clear the setting with faculty.; 2 Confirm 50 hours of availability.; 3 Submit the Community Health packet.; 4 Let Bradley handle the site agreement.; 5 Wait for the decision.. — From the first call to 50 logged hours: 1 Clear the setting with faculty.; 2 Confirm 50 hours of availability.; 3 Submit the Community Health packet.; 4 Let Bradley handle the site agreement.; 5 Wait for the decision..

NUR 407 at a glance

The 2026-27 catalog describes NUR 407 in the undergraduate course list, because it belongs to the bridge that carries RNs into Bradley's MSN.

NUR 407 Community Health Practicum RN-MSN
Item	Detail
Credits	0.0-1.5 in the course description; RN-entry programs use 1.5
Hours	50 practicum hours under a qualified preceptor
Focus	Community and population health
Prerequisite	RN-MSN student, with `NUR 404` Community Health Nursing - Theory completed or taken alongside
Clinical packet	Community Health (NUR 407 only), linked from the handbook to MyOnline
Change in 2026-27	Credits rose from 1.0 to 1.5; the 50 hours stayed the same

The prerequisite sets your timing: NUR 404 has to be finished first or run in the same term, so your plan of study always pairs NUR 407 with the theory course or places it after.

Who takes NUR 407

Every RN-entry route into Bradley's online MSN includes it. That covers RNs with an associate degree or diploma, and RNs with a bachelor's in another field, entering the FNP, PMHNP, AGACNP, AGPCNP or Nursing and Healthcare Leadership tracks. The bridge also includes NUR 300 Conceptual Bases for Professional Nursing, NUR 303 Research in Nursing and NUR 404, and the online pages say the RN routes include 9 undergraduate hours inside the program total.

Credit values drift between sources. The catalog gives NUR 404 2.0 credits and NUR 407 1.5. The online FNP and AG pages print 3 and 1, the leadership page 2 and 1, and the PMHNP page 3 and 1.5. The 50 hours are the same everywhere, which is the figure your preceptor cares about. The RN-to-MSN page covers the bridge as a whole.

Community settings that fit the course

The catalog points NUR 407 at community and population health, and Bradley's NUR 407 preceptor webinar, dated June 20, 2017 and still posted on the online site, made that concrete: the preceptor must work in a community setting. Its examples help you picture the range.

School nursing
State or local health departments
Occupational health programs
Long-term care or assisted living
Hospital wellness programs

The common thread is care for a group of people outside acute inpatient treatment. If you have a setting in mind that is not on the list, such as a community clinic or a public health outreach program, describe it to course faculty before you invest time in paperwork, as the 2017 webinar advised.

Preceptor credentials work differently here

NUR 407 is not an NP course, and the 2017 webinar treated its preceptors that way. A master's degree was not always required: the webinar said a BSN-prepared nurse had been approved, and in one case someone with a bachelor's in a related field, depending on their experience and the state. At the time the program director even offered to pre-screen prospective preceptors by email.

Today's rules live in the Community Health packet in MyOnline, and course faculty make the call, so check before you ask anyone to sign. Some standards apply regardless: Bradley's welcome site says preceptor licenses must be active and unencumbered, the Graduate Professional Behaviors Policy treats a family-member preceptor as a conflict of interest, and you may not be paid for clinical practicum work. More on the preceptor requirements page.

From the first call to 50 logged hours

Because this may be your first practicum at Bradley, allow time for each one-time step.

Clear the setting with faculty. A short description of the site and the preceptor's background saves a rejected packet later.
Confirm 50 hours of availability. Community programs keep their own calendars; school nurses, for example, follow the school year.
Submit the Community Health packet. It goes through DocuSign by midterm of the semester before NUR 407; see the preceptor packet page.
Let Bradley handle the site agreement. The Office of Online and Distance Education manages clinical agency agreements.
Wait for the decision. In 2017, course faculty emailed NUR 407 students when a preceptor was approved or not.
Set up Typhon and start. Open the login within 72 hours of receiving it, begin only once the semester opens, and log each day within 7 days.

How NUR 407 shows up in your hour total

Bradley counts these 50 hours in some RN-entry totals and not in others, which is why the same program can look 50 hours apart depending on where you read.

FNP, RN entry: the catalog says 750 and the online page 800, which is 750 plus these 50.
PMHNP, RN entry: 800 in both sources.
AGACNP and AGPCNP, RN entry: the catalog says 750, the online pages 600.
Nursing and Healthcare Leadership, RN entry: the catalog lists 500 plus 50 community hours; the online page says 350.

Whatever the total says, NUR 407 is in every RN-entry course list, so its 50 hours are required. The clinical hours page sets out every program's figures side by side.

Why RN-entry students start with us

We find community preceptors near home, in school health, public health departments, occupational health and long-term care, and we match each one's background to the Community Health packet's standards before anything is submitted. We gather the license, CV, site details and any coverage documents the Community Health packet asks for, and submit-ready paperwork reaches you well before the midterm deadline.

Just as important, we start your specialty search while NUR 407 is underway, because your first FNP, PMHNP, AG or leadership practicum follows soon after the bridge. Bradley approves every preceptor and site; we make each submission complete, and if a community preceptor's calendar shifts, your placement advisor lines up another setting quickly. Tell us your track through the form below.

Questions Bradley students ask

Does my NUR 407 preceptor need a master's degree?

Not necessarily. Bradley's 2017 NUR 407 webinar said BSN-prepared preceptors had been approved, and in one case a preceptor with a bachelor's in a related field, depending on experience and the state. The current standard is in the Community Health packet in MyOnline, and course faculty decide, so describe your preceptor to them first.

Can I complete NUR 407 hours where I work as an RN?

Bradley has not published a rule on precepting at your own employer. The course needs a community or population health setting, and the 2017 webinar listed hospital wellness programs among its examples. The Graduate Professional Behaviors Policy treats being paid for practicum work as a conflict of interest. See the workplace practicum page.

Is NUR 407 one credit or 1.5 credits?

The 2026-27 catalog lists 1.5 credits in every RN-entry program, raised from 1.0 in the previous catalog, while some online program pages still print 1 credit. The course carries 50 practicum hours either way, so your preceptor search and packet are the same regardless of which figure you see.

Do RN-entry leadership students take NUR 407?

Yes. The MSN Nursing and Healthcare Leadership RN route includes NUR 407, and the catalog adds its 50 community hours to the program's 500 practicum hours. The online leadership page gives a smaller 350-hour total for RN entry. Either way, the community practicum comes before the leadership practicums NUR 631, NUR 633 and NUR 697.

When in my program should I take NUR 407?

The catalog lets you take it with or after NUR 404, and your program of study in MyOnline sets the exact term. Count back from that term: the DocuSign packet is due by midterm of the semester before, and Viewpoint Screening clearance must be finished by midterm of your first semester.

RN entryRN-to-MSN entryBradley's RN-entry MSN for associate and diploma nurses: four bridge courses, the 50-hour NUR 407 practicum, then an NP or leadership specialty.FormPreceptor packetThe Bradley University preceptor packet: each track's clinical packet, DocuSign submission, the midterm deadline, and what your preceptor signs and sends.RulesPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a Bradley University nurse practitioner student: NPs, MDs and DOs, most hours with NPs, an active unencumbered license, and what is unpublished.WorkplacePracticum at your workplaceDoing a Bradley University practicum where you work: what Bradley says, what it leaves open, the rule against paid clinical hours, and how students manage it.HoursClinical hours by programClinical hours for each Bradley University nursing program: catalog totals, online-page figures, where they differ, and the rules that decide which hours count.LeadershipMSN Nursing and Healthcare LeadershipBradley University's MSN in Nursing and Healthcare Leadership: NUR 631, NUR 633, the NUR 697 capstone, 500 vs 300 practicum hours and nurse leader preceptors.

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.