NUR 685: your first 200 PMHNP hours beside a preceptor
At Bradley University, NUR 685 PMHNP Continuum of Care Across the Lifespan and Practicum I is the first PMHNP course in which, on the catalog's reading, a clinical preceptor supervises your hours: 200 of them, with patients living with acute and chronic psychiatric conditions. Bradley wants its preceptor packet half a semester ahead, so the search belongs to your NUR 684 term or earlier.
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.
NUR 685 at a glance
NUR 685 is where the PMHNP sequence moves from the simulation-based NUR 684 to supervised care of real patients. The 2026-27 catalog raised the course to 200 hours, part of the change that took Bradley's PMHNP tracks to 750 clinical hours.
The course is identical across every PMHNP path, whether you entered with a BSN, as an RN, for the certificate or for the doctorate. Whatever your entry point, it is the first placement you have to fill with an approved preceptor and site, and the one that sets the pattern for the two practicums after it.
Its prerequisites tell you when it comes. NUR 685 requires BIO 526 plus the three PMHNP courses NUR 680, NUR 682 and NUR 684, so it usually follows the NUR 684 semester directly.
| Item | What Bradley lists |
|---|---|
| Full title | PMHNP Continuum of Care Across the Lifespan and Practicum I |
| Credits | 6 |
| Clinical hours | 200, under a clinical preceptor |
| Patient focus | Acute and chronic psychiatric conditions |
| Prerequisites | BIO 526, NUR 680, NUR 682 and NUR 684 |
| Next course | NUR 686, with 250 hours |
The preceptor and setting that fit NUR 685
Bradley's catalog places PMHNP practicums with qualified preceptors in mental health settings, and this course centers on acute and chronic psychiatric illness. That points to outpatient psychiatric practices, community mental health centers, behavioral health units and similar programs where a prescriber manages diagnosis, medication and follow-up.
The title reaches across the lifespan. Bradley's public pages set no age quotas for NUR 685; if your cohort has any, they will be in the PMHNP Clinical Packet and Guidelines in MyOnline, so look there before choosing a site that sees only one age group.
The welcome sites add one firm rule for every preceptor: a clean, current license, since a mark against it can stop approval. Relatives are ruled out under the Graduate Professional Behaviors Policy, and so is being paid for clinical work. Our who cannot precept you page covers the rest, including the roles Bradley's 2017 webinar excluded.
Work back from the packet deadline
Bradley's current rule, from its online welcome sites, sends preceptor packets through DocuSign with a deadline at the midpoint of the semester that precedes the course. Starting NUR 685 in January therefore means a signed, complete packet by about mid-October.
Bradley's 2017 preceptor webinar put the packet about seven weeks before the clinical start, with approval in roughly five business days. Those older figures show how the review works, but the midterm rule is the one to plan around; the clinical deadlines page keeps every date in one place.
- Find the target termYour program of study in MyOnline shows the semester NUR 685 falls in.
- Secure a yes before the prior midtermThe preceptor agrees, and you hold the credentials, insurance proof and practice address the packet requires.
- Packet through DocuSignThe preceptor signs, and Bradley reviews both the preceptor and the facility.
- Agreement and TyphonBradley's side completes the clinical agency agreement, and course faculty approve the preceptor and site entries in Typhon.
- First clinical dayOnly after the semester starts; the handbook allows no practicum hours before then.
Fitting 200 hours into a Bradley term
Bradley's online nursing calendar uses 15-week semesters in fall and spring, split into 7-week halves, and a shorter 13-week summer split into 6-week halves. If NUR 685 spans a full semester, 200 hours comes to a little over 13 a week; if your section runs in a single 7-week term, plan on nearly 29. Your MyOnline schedule shows which pattern applies.
In 2017, Bradley told students that most of them did one or two clinical days a week, arranged with the preceptor. Every practicum day then goes into Typhon within seven days, with patient data. Your Typhon credentials come by B-Mail shortly before the first clinical course begins, and Bradley expects you to log in within three days.
If your total starts to slip, act in the first half of the term rather than the last week; our behind on clinical hours page explains the options.
Planning a practicum where you work
If you already work in behavioral health, asking a prescriber at your own employer can be the quickest yes. Nothing Bradley has published either permits or rules out a preceptor from your own workplace, so check with course faculty before you count on it.
Two rules still apply. You may not be paid for the clinical work itself, and the preceptor cannot be a family member. Keeping paid shifts and student hours on separate days, under separate supervision, keeps the line clear; the workplace practicum page goes further.
A familiar workplace has a second cost worth weighing. The course is meant to build a prescriber's judgment, and a team that knows you as a staff nurse may slip back into that role with you. A site where you arrive only as a student often makes the shift to the provider role easier.
How we set up NUR 685 for Bradley students
We start from your approved state, your city and the term NUR 685 begins, then search mental health settings for a preceptor who fits the course and has room for 200 hours. You get a named preceptor and site, with the details the DocuSign packet needs already collected.
Because the packet date comes half a semester before the course, we work to that date rather than the first day of class. And since NUR 686 follows directly, we ask each NUR 685 preceptor early whether they can continue, so your next step is settled before you need it.
If a preceptor steps back mid-course, we begin a replacement search as soon as you tell us and help you keep Bradley informed. Use the form below or the contact page to start.
Questions Bradley students ask
How many clinical hours is NUR 685 at Bradley?
Two hundred practicum hours with a clinical preceptor, for 6 credits, in the current catalog. Combined with the simulated 150 before it and the 400 that follow in the last two practicums, it completes the 750 PMHNP hours for BSN-entry and certificate students; RN-entry students also complete the 50-hour NUR 407.
Can I log NUR 685 hours during winter break?
Only in narrow cases. The handbook bars practicum hours before the scheduled semester starts and during a leave of absence, and break-time hours under an Incomplete count only with the lead faculty member's consent. Plan all 200 hours inside the term and ask course faculty before counting any break day.
Do I need a new preceptor for NUR 686 after NUR 685?
Not necessarily. Bradley's 2017 webinar let students reuse a preceptor, only twice, by resubmitting the one-page initial form, while Bradley's online hub pages favor fresh supervision for each new clinical focus. The current PMHNP packet decides; our NUR 686 page weighs staying against switching.
Can a psychiatrist precept me for NUR 685?
Bradley's 2017 preceptor webinar named nurse practitioners, MDs and DOs as eligible, with most hours expected under NPs, but that guidance came from the FNP program. Bradley has published no PMHNP-specific rule on psychiatrists versus psychiatric NPs, so check the PMHNP clinical packet in MyOnline or ask your course faculty.
What if my NUR 685 preceptor cancels before the term?
Alert your course faculty right away, along with the Office of Online and Distance Education, which handles preceptor packets and site coordination; any replacement needs its own approval before hours begin. Bradley publishes no backup process, so the new preceptor's packet and agreement start fresh. Our preceptor dropped out page covers the steps.
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 2026-27 catalog: NUR course descriptions
- Bradley University Online: PMHNP welcome site
- Bradley University Department of Nursing Graduate Student Handbook (revised 5/8/2026)
- Bradley University Graduate Professional Behaviors Policy (4/23/2024)
- Bradley University Online: finding a preceptor for practicums (2017 webinar)
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.