Spring Arbor DNP: practicum hours, NUR 880 and the 1,000-hour total

01What the current DNP page says, and what it leaves out

SAU's DNP lives on the main springarbor.edu site rather than the online program hub. It launched in 2020 as the university's first doctorate, announced as a DNP in Strategic Leadership. The live page says you can finish in 20 months, lists two start dates a year and a virtual residency before the program begins, and welcomes both APRNs and nurses who are not APRNs. It mentions practicum work next to coursework, without a number of hours.

The page is also silent on who arranges practicum sites, and it doesn't carry the 2026 partner-network wording found on SAU's FNP and PMHNP pages. There is no four-day MSN campus residency here; the DNP's residency is virtual and comes before your first course. SAU lists a Director of DNP and MSN-EDU/MSN-MBA Programs, the title to address practicum questions to, and the who to ask page explains SAU's other contacts.

02The 1,000-hour rule and NUR 880

The 2023-24 Graduate Catalog cites AACN's expectation of 1,000 practice hours beyond the bachelor's level by the time a DNP is awarded. If your earlier program gave you fewer than 500 practicum hours, the catalog adds three NUR 880 Practicum courses of 1 credit each, describing the course as a faculty-led clinical immersion. The catalog doesn't publish how many hours each NUR 880 credit carries, and the current page doesn't confirm the course still runs in that form.

One pattern stands out. The 2023-24 catalog lists 36 credits for APRN entrants and 39 for others, a 3-credit gap that matches three 1-credit NUR 880 courses. The catalog doesn't draw that link itself, so treat it as our reading and confirm your own plan of study. The NUR 880 practicum page covers the course in more depth.

03Courses and the DNP Project

In the 2023-24 catalog the DNP combined a foundation of NUR 810, NUR 812, NUR 814, NUR 816, NUR 820, NUR 822, NUR 824, NUR 826, NUR 830, NUR 840 and NUR 842 with three Strategic Leadership courses, NUR 832, NUR 834 and NUR 836. The DNP Project ran across four of them: NUR 810, NUR 820, NUR 830 and NUR 840. NUR 812 is Principles of Science and Faith in Nursing.

SAU's newer catalogs are locked behind a human-verification screen, which is why these numbers date from 2023-24. Check your course list in Brightspace or with your advisor. The practicum and the project are separate requirements in that catalog; don't assume project work counts toward NUR 880 hours unless faculty say so.

04Who supervises DNP practicum work

SAU hasn't published who arranges DNP practicum sites, who may mentor the hours or whether they can take place at your employer. The catalog's description of NUR 880 as faculty-led suggests SAU faculty direct it, which is different from the MSN model where you find a local preceptor for faculty to approve.

Before you look for anyone, ask the program director three things: whether you owe NUR 880 at all, whether the hours need an outside site or mentor, and what paperwork a site would sign. If the answer is that faculty handle it, you may not need outside help. If an outside mentor or organization is expected, that is where a search starts.

05Compliance for DNP students

The DNP section of the 2023-24 catalog repeats the School's compliance list rather than pointing back to the MSN one. It asks for an RN license and, if you are an APRN, an APRN license from the state or country where you practice, plus professional liability insurance, a background check and drug test repeated yearly, CPR, TB testing, immunizations and HIPAA training, with the costs on you.

If NUR 880 applies to you, expect those items to be checked before the practicum starts, as they are for MSN students. Noncompliance, in the catalog's words, may result in program delay or academic withdrawal. The clinical compliance page walks through each item and the order to handle them. Start the background check early enough that results are back before the practicum term.

06States: the DNP page's own list

On its own page, the DNP is described as open to residents of every state, yet the same page names five states without authorization: Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and New York. Mississippi came off SAU's main state authorization list during 2026, so the two now disagree, and SAU hasn't explained the difference. The other four states appear on both lists. Neither list mentions DC or the territories.

The DNP page also lists Washington with no residents-only footnote, and the DNP doesn't appear on the Washington board's list of approved out-of-state placements. If you live in Mississippi or Washington, get written confirmation from admissions before you apply or plan practicum work, and keep it on file. The state authorization page compares SAU's lists.

07Why SAU DNP students talk to us

Start with whether you owe NUR 880 hours at all. If you enter with 500 or more practicum hours and SAU confirms NUR 880 doesn't apply, your practicum questions go straight to faculty.

If you do owe NUR 880 hours and faculty expect an outside site or mentor, a placement advisor can search for a leadership or clinical setting near you that fits the objectives faculty give you, and assemble what the site and SAU need to sign. Faculty approve any site, and it reaches them ready for review.

Send us these if you want us to look

• Your master's degree, specialty and the practicum hours on your transcript
• Written confirmation from SAU of the NUR 880 hours you owe
• Any site or mentor rules faculty have given you
• Your state and the term the practicum starts

Use the form below with those details, and we'll tell you straight away whether a search makes sense and how we would run it.