NURS 7510 Psychiatric Mental Health Practicum I: your first 125 hours
NURS 7510 Psychiatric Mental Health Practicum I is the first of three supervised psychiatric practicums shared by Concordia University Wisconsin's MSN PMHNP, PMHNP DNP and PMHNP CAGE certificate. It is a 2-credit course, and CUW's 2023 PMHNP certificate curriculum plan, the only published per-course split, assigns it 125 hours. Because CUW has posted nothing on who may precept a PMHNP student, the answer on supervisors comes from the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your course faculty.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your CUW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
One course, three PMHNP programs
All three of CUW's psychiatric programs share this practicum trio, so the students in Practicum I can be at very different points in their careers. MSN students arrive as registered nurses; PMHNP DNP and certificate students are already certified nurse practitioners with prescriptive authority, adding a psychiatric population to their practice.
That difference shapes what a preceptor should expect from you, and it is worth stating in your first conversation with a clinic. It also sets the license you keep: MSN students hold an unencumbered RN license throughout, while PMHNP DNP and certificate students hold an unencumbered NP prescribing license.
| Program | Who enters | License kept current | Practicum hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN PMHNP (new in 2026-27) | BSN-prepared RNs | Unencumbered RN license | 500 minimum |
| PMHNP DNP (new in 2026-27) | MSN-prepared NPs with prescriptive authority | Unencumbered NP prescribing license | 500 psychiatric plus 200 leadership |
| PMHNP CAGE certificate | NPs with an MSN or DNP and prescriptive authority | Unencumbered NP prescribing license | 500 minimum |
Where the 125-hour figure comes from
The 2026-27 catalog sets only the 500-hour minimum for the three practicums together. The per-course numbers come from the PMHNP certificate's one-year curriculum plan, created in May 2023 and preserved in an April 2024 archive copy: 125 hours for NURS 7510, 200 for NURS 7515 and 175 for NURS 7520, taken in fall, spring and summer.
The MSN PMHNP and PMHNP DNP arrived in the 2026-27 catalog with the same three courses, so the certificate split is the best available guide for them, but CUW has not published it for those programs. Confirm your Practicum I hour target with your course faculty before you and your preceptor build a schedule. The clinical hours page sets the PMHNP figures beside every other CUW program.
CUW has published the 125-hour split only for the certificate; MSN and DNP students should confirm their Practicum I target with faculty.
What Practicum I asks of you
The catalog calls NURS 7510 a supervised clinical practicum centered on advanced assessment and the clinical management of patients with psychiatric disorders. It prints no prerequisite, but CUW's plans pair the course with NURS 6500 and NURS 6510, so expect coursework and practicum hours in the same term. The catalog describes PMHNP scope as care for patients of all ages.
For a first practicum, assessment is the core. A setting with a steady flow of new-patient psychiatric evaluations gives you the most practice at the skill the course names first, while follow-up visits build the management side. Ask a prospective preceptor how many new evaluations a typical week brings and whether a student can take the lead on some of them.
Settings CUW names for PMHNP practice
CUW's PMHNP pages list the places its graduates practice. They make a useful map for your search, though CUW presents them as career settings rather than a list of approved practicum sites:
- Inpatient psychiatric units
- Outpatient behavioral health
- Integrated primary care
- Community mental health centers
- Telehealth
The primary-care-only rule in CUW's archived sources was written for the FNP and AGPCNP tracks, so it does not settle PMHNP questions; the primary care sites page explains that split. Whether telehealth hours count toward NURS 7510, and how much of the course can sit in an inpatient unit, are questions for faculty before you commit to a site. Name the setting type on your proposal so faculty can judge the fit quickly.
Preceptor rules: what CUW leaves open
CUW states the model plainly: you secure the preceptor and site, and graduate faculty approve both for appropriateness. The PMHNP certificate page calls the placement "ultimately" your responsibility, with help from the Clinical Contract Coordinator, the older title for today's Graduate Clinical Coordinator. What CUW has not published is a PMHNP credential list: no stated preference for a board-certified PMHNP or a psychiatrist, no minimum years in practice, no word on telehealth supervision.
The archived rules on the preceptor requirements page came from primary care handbooks, so they may not carry over. Settle the open points with the Graduate Clinical Coordinator first.
Questions to settle before you ask a preceptor
- Which credentials CUW accepts for a PMHNP preceptor: a PMHNP, a psychiatrist, or others
- Any minimum years of practice or board certification
- Whether telehealth hours count, and how many
- Any cap on hours with one preceptor across the three practicums
- The current proposal form and its due date for
NURS 7510
States: the PMHNP gap in CUW's disclosure
CUW's Distance Education Disclosures page has no table for the MSN PMHNP or the PMHNP DNP. The certificate appears as CAGE (PMH NP), cleared in the primary care MSN's states except Texas and Washington, even though the certificate's own page says Washington approved clinical experiences there for Washington residents.
For any practicum outside Wisconsin, CUW's catalog places the eligibility check on the student. Before you lock in a Practicum I site in another state, ask the Graduate Clinical Coordinator how your program is treated there; the licensure disclosures page walks through the table. Students placed at a Wisconsin site sidestep the question; for everyone else it belongs at the start of the search, not the end.
How we line up Practicum I for CUW PMHNP students
We search mental health settings near your home for preceptors who can support an assessment-heavy first practicum, and we raise the open PMHNP questions with you before anything is proposed, so CUW's answers shape the search from the start. Each proposal we assemble gives graduate faculty the preceptor's credentials, certification and resume plus a description of the site, and we settle the state question for your program before the first call to a site.
We also plan the 125, 200 and 175 hours as one arc, deciding early whether one site can carry you through all three practicums or a second site should join for NURS 7515. If a Practicum I preceptor steps back, your placement advisor starts a replacement search right away. Tell us your program and start term in the form below.
Questions CUW students ask
Does NURS 7510 have a prerequisite?
The 2026-27 catalog prints none for NURS 7510, unlike NURS 7515 and NURS 7520, which each require the practicum before them. CUW's plans place it alongside NURS 6500 and NURS 6510, so follow your own progression plan. MSN PMHNP students also take Advanced Health Assessment, with its 3-day on-campus workshop, which the catalog plan puts in semester 2.
Can a psychiatrist precept me in NURS 7510?
No CUW source, current or archived, lists PMHNP preceptor credentials. The 2014-15 primary care handbook accepted physicians but required at least 50 hours with a nurse practitioner, and whether anything similar applies to the psychiatric practicums is unknown. Ask the Graduate Clinical Coordinator before you approach a psychiatrist, and get the answer in writing.
I am already an FNP. Do I still owe the Practicum I hours?
Plan on them. The PMHNP certificate and PMHNP DNP both set 500 psychiatric practicum hours as a minimum. The PMHNP DNP page lets verified hours from a prior advanced practice degree count toward its 1,000-hour residency total, but that credit sits on top of the 500 psychiatric hours. The PMHNP certificate page has more.
When does NURS 7510 run?
In the 2023 PMHNP certificate plan, Practicum I falls in the fall, followed by Practicum II in spring and Practicum III in summer. CUW has not published the practicum semesters for the six-semester MSN PMHNP or the eight-semester PMHNP DNP, so take them from your own progression plan or ask your academic advisor.
Is the PMHNP certificate fully online?
CUW pitches the certificate as online classes combined with practicum hours near home, with no campus visit listed. The MSN PMHNP and PMHNP DNP pages, by contrast, list a 3-day on-campus workshop. In every program, the practicum hours happen in your own area, with a preceptor and site you secure.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against CUW's own academic catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
- Concordia University Wisconsin 2026-27 catalog: graduate NURS course descriptions
- Concordia University Wisconsin 2026-27 catalog: PMHNP CAGE certificate
- Concordia University Wisconsin: MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
- Concordia University Wisconsin: Psychiatric Mental Health NP Certificate
- CUW PMHNP certificate curriculum plan, May 2023 (archived copy)
CUW asks you to secure your preceptors. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your CUW track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NURS course, gather the license, board certification and site details CUW's graduate faculty review, and flag early whether the site needs a new clinical contract.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental health settings for PMHNP, an agency mentor for DNP projects
- Preceptor license, certification, CV and site details ready for CUW's approval
- All three clinical courses planned together, close to home in a state CUW's disclosure lists for your program
Start your placement plan
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