Wilmington University clinical hours, program by program
Every Wilmington University nurse practitioner route carries 750 clinical hours, the DNP adds 500 or 1,000 depending on the concentration, and the Educator concentration of the MSN in Nursing Leadership has a 32-hour practicum. Some programs leave their totals unstated, and a few WilmU pages disagree with the catalog. This page explains each figure and each disagreement; the planner below lays the hours out course by course.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your WilmU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your WilmU course.
Pick your WilmU program
Your practicum courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From WilmU's own catalog, handbooks and program pages.
- Who precepts
- Family practice clinicians across the lifespan. WilmU's pages list no preceptor credentials; Delaware's Board rules for APRN programs call for an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus, with faculty approval
- Where
- In a state where you hold an RN license, since WilmU requires RN licensure for the state in which the clinical happens; hours include planned simulation
- Start looking
- Practicums fall in the latter half of the program, starting with GRN 7121 after GRN 7101, 7103, 7104 and 7105; line up the preceptor and clear credentialing before that semester
- Who precepts
- Psychiatric mental health clinicians; Delaware's Board rule asks for an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus, approved by faculty
- Where
- Psychiatric and mental health settings in a state where you hold an RN license
- Start looking
- GRN 7221 runs with GRN 7203 after GRN 7201 and 7202; each later practicum pairs with the next didactic course
- Who precepts
- A doctorally prepared experiential engagement preceptor
- Where
- Most often your own workplace, where the DNP Project is usually done; the Human Subjects Committee approves the plan in GRN 9001
- Start looking
- GRN 9001 runs in a 15-week semester once credentialing is up to date; enrollment stays continuous through GRN 9003
- Who precepts
- A doctorally prepared experiential engagement preceptor for each GRN 8121 to 8124 course
- Where
- Leadership settings that fit the practicum content you define with DNP faculty
- Start looking
- One experiential engagement course at a time, each in a 15-week semester, with credentialing complete first
- Who precepts
- An approved mentor for clinical teaching and evaluation
- Where
- A clinical teaching setting
- Start looking
- Clinical clearance must be complete before MSN 7752 starts
Hours in every WilmU nursing program
Each figure below is the one a program's own curriculum page or the 2026-27 graduate catalog states. Where a row says a total is not stated, WilmU's public pages give no number, and the section on disagreements further down names the person who can answer.
| Program | Clinical hours WilmU states | Courses that carry them |
|---|---|---|
| MSN-FNP | 750, planned simulation included | GRN 7121 to GRN 7124 |
| FNP Graduate Certificate | 750 | The same four Family Practicums |
| PMHNP Graduate Certificate | 750 | GRN 7221 to GRN 7224 |
| BSN to DNP, FNP or PMHNP track | 750 NP hours plus DNP practice hours; no combined total | NP practicums, then GRN 9001 to GRN 9003 |
| DNP, Advanced Practice | 500 (the DNP overview says 1,500) | GRN 9001 to GRN 9003 |
| DNP, Leadership | 1,000 | GRN 8121 to GRN 8124, then the project courses |
| FNP or PMHNP certificate + DNP | 750 + 500 | Both course sets |
| Leadership-area certificate + DNP, or DNP + MBA | 500 on the APRN route, 1,000 on the Leadership route | Project courses, plus GRN 8121 to GRN 8124 for Leadership |
| Ph.D./DNSc to DNP | 1,000 post-baccalaureate, 500 of them credited to board-certified APRNs | DNP project courses |
| DNP in Nurse Anesthesiology | More than 2,000, none stated per course | NAP 9100 to NAP 9106 |
| MSN in Nursing Leadership, Educator | 32, with an approved mentor | MSN 7752 |
| RN to BSN | Not stated | NUR 363, NUR 430 |
NP programs: 750 hours in four practicums
WilmU's three nurse practitioner routes (the PMHNP Graduate Certificate, the FNP Graduate Certificate and the MSN-FNP) each require 750 clinical hours in four practicums of 175, 175, 175 and 225 hours. 750 is also the smallest number Delaware's Board of Nursing accepts for an APRN track, so these programs sit right at the state minimum.
For the FNP, WilmU's curriculum page counts planned simulation within the clinical hours. The certificate's GAP analysis covers the prerequisite block, GRN 7101 to GRN 7104, and the certificate still lists all four practicums with the full 750. The breakdown by course, and the lower totals of earlier catalogs, are on the FNP's 750 hours.
In the PMHNP certificate, the first three practicums each pair with a didactic course, in order: GRN 7203 goes with GRN 7221, GRN 7204 with GRN 7222, and GRN 7205 with GRN 7223. GRN 7224 closes the set at 225 hours. The PMHNP practicums covers each pairing.
BSN to DNP students complete the same 750 NP hours in their track, then add DNP practice hours in the project courses. WilmU's BSN to DNP pages give no combined figure. The DNP Program Chair and the NP Program Chair advise BSN to DNP students together, so put the question to both at once.
DNP hours: three figures to keep apart
The DNP uses three hour figures, and each answers a different question. The Advanced Practice concentration, for master's-prepared APRNs with national board certification, lists 500 experiential engagement hours. The Leadership concentration lists 1,000 practice experience hours. And to graduate, every DNP student must show 1,000 practice hours earned after the bachelor's degree, which is why earlier graduate hours matter.
WilmU says Leadership students may be credited with practicum or clinical hours earned in earlier graduate study, and the Ph.D./DNSc to DNP option begins board-certified APRNs with 500 hours already credited. Ask the DNP Program Chair how many of your own earlier hours count, and settle it before you plan how much a preceptor has to cover.
The course figures leave a gap as well. GRN 9001, GRN 9002 and GRN 9003 state about 145, 145 and 150 hours, roughly 440 in all, against the 500 the Advanced Practice concentration lists. The four Leadership experiential engagement courses carry 125 hours each, so Leadership's course hours come to roughly 940 against 1,000. WilmU's pages do not say how the rest is reached. DNP practice hours and the DNP Project courses go through each rule.
Where WilmU's own figures disagree
WilmU publishes several hour figures that do not match each other, or that stop short of a total. Treat each one as open until your program answers it for you in writing.
- FNP total over time. 600 in the 2021-22 catalog (four practica of 120 hours), 700 in 2024-25, and 750 in the current catalog.
- DNP Advanced Practice. 500 appears on the curriculum and admission pages and in the catalog; the DNP overview page gives advanced practice nurses 1,500.
- Simulation or direct care. The FNP curriculum page counts planned simulation within the clinical hours, while each Family Practicum's catalog entry speaks of direct care clinical hours. The share that may be simulation is not stated.
- DNP course split. The three project courses list approximate hours that add up to about 440, not 500.
- BSN to DNP. No total is given for the NP and DNP phases together.
- Nurse Anesthesiology. More than 2,000 hours overall, with no figure for each residency course.
- Leadership certificates. WilmU says every concentration has a clinical component, but only the Educator's
MSN 7752states hours.
Take NP hour questions to the Assistant Chair for your track, or to the NP Program Chair, and doctoral hour questions to the DNP Program Chair. Keep the written answer and share it with your preceptor, so both of you plan to the same number.
Plan a preceptor's commitment around the figure your program confirms for you, not the lowest number you have seen on a WilmU page.
What the hours mean week by week
Hours turn into a schedule only once you know how long a course runs. WilmU's calendar has 15-week semesters and 7-week blocks. The Leadership experiential engagement courses and the first project course use the 15-week semester, and the later project courses use 7-week blocks. The format of the NP practicums is not published, so the table shows both.
| Course | Hours | Term format | Average a week |
|---|---|---|---|
GRN 8121 to GRN 8124, each | 125 | 15-week semester | about 8 |
GRN 9001 | about 145 | 15-week semester | about 10 |
GRN 9002, GRN 9003 | about 145 and 150 | 7-week block | about 21 |
GRN 7121 to GRN 7123, GRN 7221 to GRN 7223 | 175 each | Not published | about 12 over 15 weeks, 25 over 7 |
GRN 7124, GRN 7224 | 225 | Not published | 15 over 15 weeks, about 32 over 7 |
Real terms have fewer usable weeks. A reading week follows each block, Spring 2027 breaks from March 26 to April 3, and FNP practicum students also have a pair of face-to-face seminars each year. A preceptor with one clinic day a week cannot carry a 25-hour week; one with three can. The academic calendar has the 2026-27 dates.
How we plan a preceptor around your hours
However your placement comes together, with faculty input or a search you begin yourself, we build it around your hours. We start from the course in front of you, its total and the weekly load it implies, then look for a preceptor whose clinic schedule can carry that load, somewhere your RN license is valid, holding a license that satisfies Delaware's preceptor rule for APRN programs.
For the DNP, we look for a doctorally prepared preceptor in a setting that fits your project and your concentration's hours. For every course, we gather the preceptor's license and credentials, plus contact information, and lay out the health system's own intake steps before the term starts. The yes on each preceptor and site comes from WilmU faculty; our job is to hand them a file with nothing missing. How it works walks through each step, or tell us your course in the form below.
Questions WilmU students ask
How many clinical hours is WilmU's PMHNP certificate?
750, the same total as the FNP. They fall in four practicums, GRN 7221 to GRN 7224, of 175, 175, 175 and 225 hours, and the first three each run with a didactic course. WilmU's pages disagree on the certificate's credits, 31 on the certificate page and 27 on the combined PMHNP and DNP page, but not on its hours.
Is the WilmU DNP 500 or 1,500 clinical hours?
The Advanced Practice concentration, open to board-certified APRNs, is 500 hours on its curriculum and admission pages and in the 2026-27 catalog, but 1,500 on the DNP overview page. The catalog separately sets a 1,000-hour post-baccalaureate total for graduation. Ask the DNP Program Chair in writing how your earlier graduate hours fit into it.
How many clinical hours does WilmU's BSN to DNP require?
WilmU states 750 NP clinical hours in the FNP or PMHNP track plus additional DNP practice hours, and gives no combined total. The FNP track is 75 credits and the PMHNP track 79, each over 3.5 years, with the NP practicums first and the DNP Project courses after. Your two advisors, the NP and DNP program chairs, can confirm your total.
Does the MSN Educator concentration have clinical hours?
Yes. MSN 7752 Clinical Teaching and Evaluation carries a 32-hour practicum with an approved mentor, and WilmU lists clinical clearance as a condition for starting it. It is the only course in the MSN in Nursing Leadership with stated hours; the capstones MSN 8705 and MSN 8706 list none.
Can hours from my master's program count toward WilmU's DNP?
In some routes, yes. The Leadership concentration may give credit for hours from earlier graduate practicums or clinicals, and for board-certified APRNs coming from a Ph.D. or DNSc, 500 of the 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours count as already met. The amount credited in your case is for the DNP Program Chair to confirm.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Wilmington University's own program and curriculum pages, the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences policies and the State Licensures by Program page. Your NP Program Chair, your course faculty and the College have the final word.
A WilmU practicum coming up? Your preceptor search starts here.
Tell us your WilmU program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. Whether WilmU's faculty help with your placement or you are starting the search yourself, we find preceptors who fit the course, check the health system's own intake steps, and organize the preceptor's license and credentials well before the first day.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan for
GRN 7121toGRN 7124, psychiatric mental health forGRN 7221toGRN 7224, doctorally prepared for the DNP - Clinicians who meet Delaware's rule for APRN program preceptors: an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus
- Close to home, in a state where you hold an RN license, with each system's onboarding mapped out early
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