NUR 680: the PMHNP clinical practicum
NUR 680 Assessment and Management in PMH Setting: Clinical Practicum is where Northern Arizona University's PMHNP students do their precepted psychiatric work: 13 units in the MS PMHNP emphasis, and 9 or 13 in the PMHNP graduate certificate. NAU flags the course for in-person engagement, yet it publishes no hour total, no PMHNP deadlines and no PMHNP preceptor rules, so planning it well starts with knowing what to ask.
Find a NUR 680 preceptor
Tell us your PMHNP path and where you live. We look for in-person psychiatric preceptors near home.
What NAU publishes about NUR 680
Everything NAU has published on the course fits in one table. It comes from the catalog's course entry, the 2026-27 MS plan, the 2025-26 certificate plan and the College's certificate page.
| Item | What NAU says |
|---|---|
| Catalog title | Assessment And Management In PMH Setting: Clinical Practicum |
| Focus | Psychiatric assessment, diagnostic evaluation, treatment planning, documentation, leadership and evaluation strategies for the PMHNP |
| Units | Variable, 1 to 13 in the course entry |
| MS PMHNP emphasis | 13 units, alongside NUR 689 (4 units) |
| PMHNP certificate | 9 units if you are already an NP; 13 if you hold a non-NP MSN |
| Prerequisite | NUR 654 |
| In person | "This course requires in-person engagement" (certificate course list) |
| Hours | Not published in any NAU source that can be opened |
The certificate page adds that the program also involves work in direct patient care. The newest handbook that covered PMHNP clinicals, the 2023-24 APRN Clinical Handbook, is offline with no archived copy, which is why so much of the detail is missing.
What in-person engagement means for your plans
NAU has not said where or how often the in-person element happens, or whether it refers to your clinical site, a campus visit or both. The note is printed on the certificate's course list; the MS takes the same course, so MS students should plan on the same expectation and confirm it.
The practical consequence is about settings. A psychiatric practice that sees patients only by video may not satisfy a course marked for in-person engagement in direct patient care, even if the preceptor is otherwise ideal. Ask your program coordinator how much telehealth time, if any, counts toward NUR 680 before you commit to a virtual-first practice.
Hold off on building NUR 680 around a telehealth-only psychiatric practice until NAU confirms how much virtual time counts. The course is marked for in-person engagement.
Hours: an estimate, clearly labeled
NAU publishes no PMHNP hour total. Its other graduate practicums pair 60 clinical hours with each unit (180 hours for the 3-unit NUR 661, 300 for the 5-unit NUR 663, and 60 per credit of NUR 703 in the DNP handbook), and that ratio gives a working estimate.
| Path | Units of NUR 680 | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| MS PMHNP emphasis | 13 | About 780 hours |
| Certificate, non-NP MSN | 13 | About 780 hours |
| Certificate, already an NP | 9 | About 540 hours |
Arizona's R4-19-502 obliges every APRN program to include no fewer than 500 hours of faculty-supervised practice in each population focus. How the 9-unit path sits against that floor for students who already hold an NP credential is not published. Get the real totals from your program coordinator before a preceptor blocks out their calendar for you.
Who can precept NUR 680
No PMHNP-specific preceptor rules could be retrieved, but Arizona's R4-19-502 applies to every APRN program in the state, and NAU copied it into its FNP guidelines. Read for the PMHNP, it points to someone licensed as an RN or physician in the state where they work, with a year or more of practice as a physician or APRN, whose own population focus is comparable to psychiatric-mental health; a nurse preceptor also needs national or Board certification in the psychiatric role and focus.
In practice that usually means a psychiatrist or a board-certified PMHNP. A family NP who works mainly in behavioral health raises the comparable-focus question, which only the program coordinator can answer. The preceptor requirements guide explains each rule, and who cannot precept you covers the exclusions NAU has published.
The approval route, borrowed from the FNP process
The only published NAU process for approving an NP preceptor is the FNP one: the student submits the Green Form, an affiliation agreement is started if the agency has none, the preceptor's CV, license and certification go to NAU for review, and the student is told when they may begin. Whether PMHNP students use the same form, dates and approver today is something to confirm with your program coordinator.
Until you hear otherwise, work to the FNP calendar: requests by March 31, June 30 or October 31 for summer, fall or spring, and documents on file two months before clinicals start. Planning to the stricter published dates costs little and protects the term you want.
Settings that fit the course
The catalog's focus on assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning and documentation fits settings where a PMHNP carries a real caseload: outpatient psychiatric clinics, community mental health centers, inpatient psychiatric units, integrated behavioral health within primary care, and substance use treatment programs. Confirm any setting with course faculty before you commit.
Rural and tribal behavioral health programs fit NAU's own framing too: the MS program's Degree Search page describes clinical rotations in rural and underserved communities. Whatever the setting, the agency still needs an agreement with NAU before your first day.
MS students also have NUR 689, a capstone tied to a health need in a rural community. A NUR 680 site in or near that community can make the project easier to ground; the NUR 689 guide explains what is published about it.
How we plan NUR 680 for NAU students
PMHNP students come to us because we search specifically for psychiatric preceptors who see patients in person, close to where you live. Your placement advisor checks each candidate against R4-19-502 for a psychiatric population focus, confirms the setting involves direct patient care, and assembles the preceptor's credentials along with the site's sign-off.
We also raise the open questions with you up front, the hour total, the telehealth limits and the deadline set, so you can get NAU's answers before a preceptor is committed. If a preceptor withdraws partway through, we start on the replacement right away. For MS students we also keep NUR 689 in view, favoring psychiatric sites in the kind of rural community the capstone asks about.
Questions NAU students ask
Can a family nurse practitioner precept me in NUR 680?
Possibly, but it turns on Arizona's comparable population focus rule, which NAU applies to preceptors. An FNP whose practice is mostly psychiatric care may qualify in the program coordinator's judgment; one in general primary care raises a harder question. Ask before you file, and have the preceptor's certification and practice description ready.
Is NUR 680 taken in a single semester?
The catalog lists NUR 680 at 1 to 13 units, which allows it to be spread across terms, but NAU does not publish a PMHNP clinical calendar. Your plan of study shows how your cohort takes it. At 13 units, spreading the course across terms would lighten the weekly load for a working nurse.
Can I enroll in NAU's PMHNP certificate if I live in Kansas?
NAU's professional licensure table lists the PMHNP certificate as Does Not Meet for Kansas, along with seven other states, while the MS PMHNP is listed as Meets there. NAU does not bar enrollment, but students located in a Does Not Meet state attest they plan to work elsewhere. The licensure disclosure guide has the full table.
Can I complete NUR 680 at the psychiatric unit where I work?
NAU's published rules say an affiliation agreement is needed even when the student works at the facility, and its DNP rules keep supervisors out of the preceptor role and practicum hours outside normal shifts. Whether those DNP limits apply to PMHNP students is for your coordinator; the workplace practicum guide covers the rest.
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, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certificate page
- Northern Arizona University Academic Catalog, NUR 680 course entry (archived copy)
- Northern Arizona University Academic Catalog 2025-26, PMHNP Graduate Certificate (archived copy)
- Northern Arizona University Academic Catalog 2026-27, MS Nursing, Advanced Practice (archived copy)
- Arizona Administrative Code, Title 4, Chapter 19, Board of Nursing rules (archived copy)
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.