DNP residency hours at Southeastern: Residency I to III and the 1,000-hour total
Southeastern Louisiana University's DNP builds its practice hours around three residency courses, NURS 8210 (90 hours), NURS 8220 (180) and NURS 8230 (180), with NURS 8090 adding 135 hours each time you enroll. Along with hours from earlier graduate study, they count toward the 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours the DNP requires. The catalog prints 540 residency hours where the three courses add to 450, and you choose your project site and mentor, with faculty input.
Find a residency site and mentor
Tell us your DNP track, your project idea and where in Louisiana you work. A placement advisor replies with site and mentor options that fit the project.
The residency courses and their hours
Each residency course pairs didactic hours with residency hours in the same semester, and the three run in strict order. The BSN to DNP plans place Residency I in semester seven (summer), Residency II in semester eight (fall) and Residency III in semester nine (spring); the post-master's DNP runs them in its second, third and fourth semesters.
| Course | Credits | Residency hours | Prerequisite | Offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURS 8210 Residency I | 2 | 90 per semester | NURS 8030 | Summer, fall, spring |
NURS 8220 Residency II | 4 | 180 per semester | NURS 8210 | Summer, fall, spring |
NURS 8230 Residency III | 4 | 180 per semester | NURS 8220 | Fall, spring |
NURS 8090 Advanced Directed Studies | 3 | 135 per semester; may be repeated twice | Registered in or prior credit for NURS 8030 | Summer, fall, spring |
The catalog says NURS 8090 and the practicum hours in Residencies I, II and III can only be taken at your home institution, even though core DNP courses are shared with UL Lafayette. The NURS 8090 description calls it individualized, faculty-guided work for students who need more hours, and it asks for a written proposal of learning outcomes before you enroll.
540 or 450: the residency total
The BSN to DNP catalog pages for the FNP and PMHNP concentrations print a residency total of 540 hours. The three residency descriptions add to 450, and the 2018-19 DNP handbook, the newest one Southeastern links, also describes 450 practicum hours across a minimum of 10 residency credits. The post-master's DNP entry prints no residency total at all.
One reading, and it is ours rather than Southeastern's: NURS 8030 Project Planning lists 90 practicum hours in its catalog description, and adding them to the three residencies gives exactly 540. Southeastern has not said that is how the figure is built. The old handbook adds its own wrinkle, since one of its forms asks for a minimum of 420 practicum hours with 60 in Residency I. Ask your residency faculty which total governs your cohort and how NURS 8030 hours are logged.
Counting toward 1,000
The hour target comes from the NURS 8090 description: 1,000 total residency hours including post-baccalaureate work. The 2018-19 handbook says the same in different words, a total of 1,000 post-BSN practicum hours to graduate, and ties it to the AACN recommendation.
How you reach it depends on your route. BSN to DNP FNP and PMHNP students complete 750 clinical hours in the NP courses inside the plan, so with 450 or 540 residency hours our arithmetic lands above 1,000. Post-master's students count verified hours from their master's program, submitted on Southeastern's verification form at admission, then add the residencies. Anyone still short enrolls in NURS 8090 for 135 hours at a time, and the Nurse Executive plan builds one enrollment into semester six.
The 2018-19 handbook also let a student bank 20 practicum hours toward a later residency course. Confirm with residency faculty whether that still applies before you count on it.
IRB approval, the project site and your mentor
Residency I is where the project turns real. The NURS 8210 description expects you to secure IRB approval during the course, so your site, population and mentor need to be settled before it starts, largely during NURS 8030. The catalog adds that a student working on the synthesis project, its name for the DNP project, must be enrolled in a residency course or NURS 8090 while doing so.
Southeastern's DNP page says students choose preceptors and facilities. The 2018-19 handbook describes a residency mentor you select from outside the university with faculty input, someone who holds at least a master's or can open access to the population, data, agency or system your project needs. Residency faculty chair a project committee that includes the mentor. The handbook's forms include a facility request every student files, even when the university may already have an agreement with the site, and a letter of agreement signed by you, your mentor and faculty, with the mentor's CV attached.
Nurse Executive Leadership: field studies and internship
The BSN to DNP Nurse Executive Leadership concentration adds leadership practicums before the residencies. The catalog describes each as developing the nurse leader role under faculty-supervised preceptors.
| Course | Credits | Hours | Plan semester | Offered, per description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURS 6540 Field Study I | 2 | One class hour and 5 practicum hours a week | 2 (fall) | Spring |
NURS 6550 Field Study II | 2 | One class hour and 5 practicum hours a week | 4 (summer) | Fall |
NURS 6590 Internship | 3 | 10 practicum hours a week | 5 (fall) | Spring |
NURS 8090 Advanced Directed Studies | 3 | 135 residency hours | 6 (spring) | Summer, fall, spring |
The plan terms and the offered terms disagree for all three leadership practicums, and NURS 6540 lists NURS 6460 as a prerequisite, a course absent from this curriculum. The catalog prints no practicum total for the concentration, so ask the DNP program coordinator how field study and internship hours count toward 1,000. Students holding a non-nursing master's may substitute the practicum courses if they document a supervised healthcare practicum. The Nurse Executive guide covers the rest of the track.
Campus visits, licenses and where residency happens
Residency runs online and at your site, but the DNP page requires you on campus twice: for DNP orientation and for the defense of your DNP project. The catalog places those activities just before the program starts and at its end, when you present the synthesis project, and the 2018-19 handbook puts the oral presentation at the School of Nursing on the Hammond campus.
Southeastern has no written Louisiana-only line for the DNP like the one on its MSN page. The catalog asks for a Louisiana RN license for the BSN to DNP FNP and PMHNP concentrations and the post-master's DNP, while the Nurse Executive entry and the admissions page for post-master's applicants accept a U.S. license. Louisiana's rules still require every preceptor in a Louisiana-approved program to hold a Louisiana license, so check with the graduate nursing office before planning a site across a state line; the Louisiana rule has more.
How we help with residency sites and mentors
A residency site is a different search from an NP preceptor. Your placement advisor looks for a Louisiana organization that fits your project question and a mentor who can open its data and population to you, then checks whether the facility has an agreement with Southeastern and gathers what the facility request and mentor agreement ask for. Time spent on residency stays separate from any paid work at the same site, and we plan it that way from the first conversation.
For BSN to DNP students we plan the NP clinical courses and the residencies together, so a site from Family Health III or Psych/MH III can sometimes carry into the project. The BSN to DNP FNP and post-master's DNP guides show where the residencies sit in each plan. Tell us about your project.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Do post-master's DNP students need 1,000 new hours at Southeastern?
The target is 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours in total, and practicum hours from your master's program count once Southeastern verifies them through its form at admission. The residencies add 450 by the course descriptions, and NURS 8090 covers any remaining shortfall at 135 hours per enrollment, with a written proposal to faculty first.
Can my DNP residency be at my workplace?
It can, provided the residency hours are not paid work time. The 2018-19 handbook's mentor agreement says a student may not take part in practicum activities while receiving pay for work at the same time. Your mentor, site and faculty agree the arrangement in writing, and the site still needs an agreement with the university.
What happens if my DNP project stalls during a residency?
The 2018-19 handbook says extenuating circumstances can lead to an Incomplete, finished the following semester under the graduate catalog's policy, or to completing hours through NURS 8090. The current catalog requires an Incomplete to be cleared by the end of the next semester or it becomes an F. Grades and time limits has the details.
Where are DNP residency hours logged?
The 2018-19 handbook has DNP students document competencies and practicum hours electronically in Typhon. Southeastern has not posted a newer DNP handbook, so confirm the current system in your residency course in Canvas. Tracking systems and background checks covers the names used over time.
Who sits on the DNP project committee?
The 2018-19 handbook describes a DNP project committee chaired by residency course faculty that includes your residency mentor, with a committee form signed by the DNP coordinator and the dean. Check the current makeup with your residency faculty, since that handbook predates the present catalog and its four-digit course numbers.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Southeastern's own catalog, program pages and consortium handbook, and Louisiana rules. Your course faculty, the graduate coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
Southeastern asks you to choose your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Southeastern track, where in Louisiana you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find Louisiana-licensed preceptors who fit the course, confirm whether the facility is already under contract with the university, and hand you what your course faculty need to approve it before the semester.
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