FNP or PMHNP at NAU: how the two nurse practitioner tracks compare
At Northern Arizona University the FNP and PMHNP tracks share one online master's, seven core courses and a 2.5-year length, then part ways in nearly every clinical respect. FNP students complete three family practicums with a published total of 780 hours. PMHNP students carry their clinical work in one 13-unit course, NUR 680, which NAU flags as in person and for which it publishes units but no hour count.
Weighing FNP against PMHNP?
Tell us your town and the track you are leaning toward. Your placement advisor replies with the preceptor picture near you.
The tracks in one table
Both emphases sit inside the MS Nursing, Advanced Practice, which took its first students in Fall 2023. They are both online, carry the same admission requirements and share the core courses NUR 510, NUR 520, NUR 530, NUR 540, NUR 560, NUR 650 and NUR 675. The rest of the comparison looks like this.
| FNP | PMHNP | |
|---|---|---|
| MS units | 48 | 51 |
| Track-specific core course | NUR 550 | NUR 653 |
| Emphasis theory courses | NUR 660, NUR 662, NUR 664, NUR 676 | NUR 654 through NUR 658 |
| Clinical courses | NUR 661, NUR 663, NUR 665 | NUR 680, 13 units |
| Published clinical hours | 780 (180, 300, 300) | None published |
| Project course | None | NUR 689, 4 units, rural community need |
| Catalog in-person flag | None beyond clinical time itself | NUR 680 requires in-person engagement |
| Post-master's route | FNP certificate: 39 units (38 in Degree Search), 25 months | PMHNP certificate: 23 or 36 units, one year |
| Licensure table, Does Not Meet | KY, MD, MI, NY, PA, TX, WI | Same seven for the MS; the certificate adds Kansas |
Three clinical courses or one
The FNP route spreads its clinical time across a fixed summer, fall and spring sequence. Each practicum pairs with a theory course and requires the one before it, which gives an FNP student three terms, potentially three different sites, and three Green Form cutoffs to plan around. The course guides start with Practicum I.
The PMHNP route loads 13 units into NUR 680, a course NAU lists at anywhere from 1 to 13 units and opens after NUR 654, then adds the NUR 689 professional project. NAU's public sources do not show how those 13 units are split across terms, so for a PMHNP student the plan of study is the first document to read before the preceptor search begins. What the course covers is on the NUR 680 guide.
The practical effect: an FNP student can map three separate searches today, while a PMHNP student may need one psychiatric setting able to host a longer stretch of in-person work, depending on how the plan of study divides NUR 680.
Hours: published versus estimated
For FNP students the number is firm: 780 hours, with no fewer than 500 supervised by faculty in the family focus, according to NAU's 2022-23 guidelines. The same document suggests a split of roughly 100 pediatric, 450 adult and 100 women's health hours plus 75 to 150 specialty hours, and it sets floors for certain encounters, five pelvic exams among them. See the FNP hour mix for the full breakdown.
For PMHNP students NAU publishes no total. Graduate practicums at NAU count 60 hours per unit, so 13 units points to roughly 780 hours, but that is an inference from the ratio and not a figure NAU has printed. An FNP student can build a term-by-term hour plan from published numbers; a PMHNP student should get the requirement from the program coordinator first. The clinical hours page sets every NAU program side by side.
In-person time and travel
Every clinical hour in either track happens at a site with a preceptor, so neither track is purely online. The PMHNP difference is an explicit catalog flag: NUR 680 is marked as requiring in-person engagement, and the certificate page adds direct patient care environments. Neither MS emphasis has a published on-campus intensive.
On travel, NAU's FNP guidelines say effort goes into minimizing it, but that overnight accommodations may be necessary. A rural thread also runs through both tracks: NAU markets the MS with the chance to train in rural and underserved places, and the PMHNP project is built around a rural community's health need. In either track, a preceptor you arrange near home keeps the in-person hours manageable alongside work and family.
The preceptors each track needs
R4-19-502, the Arizona Board of Nursing rule for APRN programs, governs both tracks, and its population-focus clause is where they divide. An FNP preceptor practices family care across the lifespan; the 2021-22 Green Form listed MD, DO and FNP among preceptor credentials. A PMHNP preceptor practices psychiatric and mental health care, most often as a psychiatrist or a board-certified PMHNP.
FNP students also need breadth. A family practice that sees children and offers well-woman visits can cover several of the recommended hour targets at once, with a specialty site added for the specialty block. PMHNP students need depth in a setting that allows sustained in-person work with psychiatric patients. The approval steps NAU has published come from the FNP guidelines, so PMHNP students confirm the current route with their program coordinator. The preceptor requirements page reads the rule line by line.
Questions to settle before you choose
- Which population do you want to certify in? Arizona certifies nurse practitioners in a role and population focus, and your national certification follows the track you finish.
- Where will you live during clinicals? Both MS emphases fail the same seven states in NAU's licensure table, and the PMHNP certificate also fails Kansas.
- Which preceptors are within reach? List the family practices and the psychiatric settings within a reasonable drive before you apply.
- Do you already hold an MSN? Then a certificate may fit better: FNP at 39 units over about 25 months, or PMHNP at 23 or 36 units over about a year.
- How much in-person time can your job absorb? FNP practicums are in person by nature, and
NUR 680carries an explicit in-person flag.
Graduate nursing advisors answer admissions and coursework questions and can check your transcript against either track. The MS FNP and MS PMHNP guides cover each track in full.
Why NAU NP students choose us, in either track
Whichever track you choose, the preceptor search shapes how smoothly your clinical year runs, and we build it around that track's needs. For FNP students we plan all three practicums together around family primary care with the pediatric and women's health hours NAU recommends. For PMHNP students we look for psychiatric settings close to home that can support the in-person demands of NUR 680.
In both tracks we vet each preceptor against R4-19-502, pull together the credentials NAU reviews, secure the site's yes before anything reaches NAU, and flag early whether an affiliation agreement is needed. We stay with you through each term and move quickly on a replacement if a preceptor leaves. NAU keeps the final decision; we make sure your request is complete. Pick your track in the form below and tell us where you live.
Questions NAU students ask
Which NAU NP track has more units?
The PMHNP emphasis, at 51 units against 48 for the FNP emphasis. The gap sits in the emphasis block: 28 PMHNP units, including 13 of NUR 680 and 4 of NUR 689, compared with 25 FNP units spread over four theory courses and three practicums. Both share a 23-unit core and the same 2.5-year listed length.
Can I earn both the FNP and the PMHNP at NAU?
The MS lists the two emphases as alternatives, and the catalog bars a PMHNP certificate student from pursuing the MS PMHNP at the same time. An FNP graduate who later wants psychiatric practice has a route, though: the 23-unit track of the PMHNP certificate is built for master's-prepared nurses who are already nurse practitioners.
Do FNP and PMHNP students use the same Green Form?
The FNP Preceptor/Agency Green Form is documented in NAU's 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines. NAU took down the 2023-24 APRN handbook, the last one written for PMHNP students too, so their version of the process has no public source today. PMHNP students should ask the program coordinator which form to use and when it is due.
Do both NAU NP tracks need an Arizona fingerprint card?
Yes. The IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card, issued by Arizona's Department of Public Safety, appears under clinical health requirements for the MS and for each NP certificate alike. NAU's instructions give separate steps for applicants inside and outside Arizona; the fingerprint card guide walks through them.
Can I switch from FNP to PMHNP after starting at NAU?
NAU's public pages describe no process for moving between the two emphases. Because they share seven core courses, a change made early would carry more of your finished work across than a late one, but only graduate nursing advising can say whether it is allowed and how. Ask before you begin a track-specific course such as NUR 550 or NUR 653.
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 catalog 2026-27: MS Nursing, Advanced Practice (archived)
- Northern Arizona University FNP Clinical Guidelines, AY 2022-23 (archived)
- Northern Arizona University College of Nursing: PMHNP graduate certificate
- Northern Arizona University: professional licensure by state
- Northern Arizona University Degree Search: Nursing, Advanced Practice
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
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