NAU's course bundle for clinical nurse specialists who want to prescribe
Northern Arizona University's Clinical Nursing Specialist Prescriptive Authority Course Bundle is nine units of online coursework, NUR 520, NUR 540 and NUR 650, taken at your own pace. It carries no precepted clinical hours, so no preceptor search stands between you and the finish, and it awards no degree or certificate. It is meant for certified clinical nurse specialists getting ready to apply for prescribing authority in Arizona.
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Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What NAU is offering
The catalog lists the bundle under the plan code CNSPABN with a one-line requirement: complete nine units made up of NUR 520, NUR 540 and NUR 650. It adds, just as plainly, that the bundle does not lead to a degree or certificate. The college's page titles it Clinical Nurse Specialist Prescribing, the catalog spells it Clinical Nursing Specialist, and both names describe the same offering.
Everything is online. The college describes a format with no due dates, so you move through the material on your own timetable, and it reviews applications on a rolling basis instead of in set windows. That sets the bundle apart from NAU's MS and DNP programs, which the college describes as semester-based.
The bundle is also absent from NAU's professional licensure table, the state-by-state list for programs that lead to a license. That fits its purpose: it adds prescribing authority to a credential you already hold rather than preparing you for a new one.
Who the bundle is built for
The college page names four entry points: certification as a clinical nurse specialist, a graduate degree in nursing, an RN or APRN license, and the intention to apply for Arizona APRN prescribing authority. It is a finishing step for nurses already working in the CNS role, not a route into that role.
Two practical questions are left open on NAU's public pages. The page does not say whether the license must be issued by Arizona or be a multistate one, and it does not say whether the IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card NAU lists for its NP programs applies here. Because the bundle exists to support an Arizona application, ask the graduate nursing advisors how your license and your state of residence fit before you enroll.
Working CNS nurses outside Arizona should weigh the Arizona focus carefully. The bundle is designed around the Arizona Board of Nursing's process, so a nurse planning to prescribe in another state will want that state's board rules in hand before committing time to it.
The three courses and the lab component
NUR 650, Advanced Nursing Assessment, is three units and lists two hours of lecture and three hours of lab. It covers advanced health assessment across the lifespan. NAU's public record does not say whether that lab time runs virtually or in person for bundle students, so ask before you plan any travel for it.
NUR 520 and NUR 540 make up the other six units. The live catalog showed only error pages when this guide was researched, and the archived plan page lists the two course numbers without describing them, so read the current descriptions in the catalog, or in Canvas once you are enrolled.
All three course numbers also appear in the core of NAU's MS Advanced Practice, in the post-master's FNP certificate and in the 36-unit PMHNP certificate track for MSN graduates who are not NPs. The overlap is worth knowing about if an NP certificate might come next.
Arizona prescribing authority, in outline
The bundle points toward an application to the Arizona Board of Nursing, the body that grants prescribing and dispensing authority. The Board's rules in Title 4, Chapter 19 of the Arizona Administrative Code set this out most fully for registered nurse practitioners: at least 45 contact hours of pharmacology or clinical management of drug therapy within the three years before applying, with prescribing kept inside the population focus.
Controlled substances add a federal step. Under rule R4-19-512, a DEA registration comes first and is filed with the Board; Schedule II prescriptions allow no refills, Schedule III and IV allow up to five refills within six months, and Schedule V allows refills for up to a year.
For the exact application steps a clinical nurse specialist must complete, the Board's own pages are the authority, so confirm them there before you finish the last course. The Arizona NP practice guide covers the broader practice and prescribing picture.
No preceptor now, and when that changes
Because the bundle has no practicum, you can complete it without arranging a single clinical day. That changes the moment the bundle becomes a step toward nurse practitioner certification at NAU. The table sets the bundle beside the certificates a CNS with a graduate degree could consider next.
| Option | Units | Clinical time | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNS Prescriptive Authority Course Bundle | 9 | None; lab time in NUR 650 | Coursework toward an Arizona prescribing application |
| Post-master's FNP certificate | 39 in the catalog, 38 in degree search | 780 hours across NUR 661, NUR 663, NUR 665 | Graduate certificate |
| PMHNP certificate, track for non-NP MSN graduates | 36 | 13 units of NUR 680, in person | Graduate certificate |
| PMHNP certificate, track for current NPs | 23 | 9 units of NUR 680, in person | Graduate certificate |
Either certificate turns preceptor planning into the main event. The post-master's FNP certificate needs a preceptor the FNP Program Coordinator approves for each of its three practicums, and the PMHNP certificate needs in-person psychiatric care. If you work as a CNS, your hospital network may already include physicians and APRNs who could precept; what counts is whether each practices in a population focus comparable to the NP track you choose, as Arizona rule R4-19-502 requires.
Where our placement desk fits
The bundle itself runs entirely on coursework, so our part begins with the NP certificate you may be weighing next. NAU students pick us for that stage because we carry the whole preceptor search: we look for physicians and nurse practitioners near your home who fit the population focus, check each one against Arizona's rule as NAU applies it, gather the CV, license and certification, and confirm the site's approval so your Green Form goes in complete and ahead of its deadline.
For FNP we plan all three practicums together, so summer, fall and spring each have a preceptor lined up before the first one starts. For PMHNP we look for psychiatric settings within driving distance that can offer the in-person time NUR 680 calls for.
If you are finishing the bundle and considering a certificate, send your timeline through the form below and we will map the preceptor side before you apply. How it works walks through each step.
Questions NAU students ask
Does NAU's CNS prescribing bundle need clinical hours or a preceptor?
Neither. The catalog attaches no precepted clinical hours to the bundle. The only hands-on element NAU lists is the lab time in NUR 650, printed as three hours of lab beside two of lecture. Ask the college how that lab is delivered for bundle students before you plan any travel.
Is the NAU CNS prescribing bundle a graduate certificate?
No. The catalog states that the bundle does not lead to a degree or certificate. It is a set of three courses that prepares a certified clinical nurse specialist to apply for prescribing authority, and that authority itself comes from the Arizona Board of Nursing, not from NAU.
When can I start NAU's CNS prescribing courses?
NAU's college page says it takes applications on a rolling basis and that the online format has no due dates, so you set your own pace. It publishes no start calendar, so ask the graduate nursing advisors how enrollment lines up with NAU's terms once you are admitted.
Could the CNS bundle courses count toward an NAU NP certificate later?
The same course numbers, NUR 520, NUR 540 and NUR 650, sit in the FNP certificate and in the PMHNP certificate track for MSN graduates who are not NPs. NAU publishes no policy on applying bundle units to either one, so get a graduate nursing advisor's answer before you count on the credit carrying over.
How is the CNS bundle different from NAU's FNP certificate?
The bundle is nine units of coursework with no practicum and no credential at the end. The post-master's FNP certificate runs 39 units in the catalog, or 38 in degree search, with 780 precepted clinical hours, and degree search lists it at 25 months. One adds prescribing authority to a CNS role; the other builds a new nurse practitioner role.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
- Northern Arizona University Academic Catalog 2025-26: CNS Prescriptive Authority Course Bundle (archived)
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: Clinical Nurse Specialist Prescribing
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: degree locations
- Arizona Administrative Code, Title 4, Chapter 19: Board of Nursing rules (archived)
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.