Southeastern's post-master's DNP: residency hours, the project site and the PMHNP option
Southeastern Louisiana University's post-master's DNP is 39 credits beyond your MSN, admitted once a year in fall, and built around three residency courses where you plan, run and evaluate a DNP project. A 59-credit version adds the PMHNP certificate and its psychiatric clinicals. You choose the project site and a mentor from outside the university with faculty input; we help you find both, plus psychiatric preceptors if you take the combined route.
Find your residency site and mentor
Tell us your project topic, your fall start and where in Louisiana you work, and your placement advisor will begin the search.
Who the post-master's DNP is for
Southeastern's DNP page describes the post-master's applicant as an MSN-prepared nurse with experience as an APRN, whether nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist or clinical nurse specialist, or as a nurse executive. The program is offered with UL Lafayette, admits once a year in fall and wants your application by July 15.
The catalog sets a 3.3 GPA on master's coursework and asks for proof of a graduate statistics course with a B or better before you enroll in NURS 8010 Biostatistics. You also submit a form verifying the practicum hours you completed in your MSN, which becomes the starting point of your hour count.
License wording conflicts. The catalog asks for an unencumbered Louisiana RN license and an APRN license where it applies, while the DNP admissions page asks for current U.S. nursing licensure. If your license is from another state, get the Graduate Nursing Office's answer in writing before you apply. RN license requirements covers every version of the rule.
The 39-credit plan
| Semester | Courses (credits) | Precepted hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1, fall | NURS 8000 (3), NURS 8010 (3), NURS 8030 Project Planning (3), NURS 8040 (3) | 90 practicum hours in NURS 8030's description |
| 2, spring | NURS 8020 (3), NURS 8060 (3), NURS 8210 Residency I (2) | 90 |
| 3, fall | NURS 8050 (3), NURS 8070 (4), NURS 8220 Residency II (4) | 180 |
| 4, spring | NURS 8080 (4), NURS 8230 Residency III (4) | 180 |
| As needed | NURS 8090 Advanced Directed Studies (3) | 135 per enrollment |
Project work starts in the first semester, when NURS 8030 Project Planning shapes the proposal, and the residency sequence carries it to a finished project in four terms. The catalog requires you to be enrolled in NURS 8090 or a residency course for credit whenever you are actively working on the project, and residency hours and NURS 8090 must be taken at your home institution. The DNP residency hours guide compares the residency totals across every DNP track.
Counting toward 1,000 hours
The DNP targets 1,000 practicum hours after the BSN. Your MSN hours, as verified at admission, count toward that total, and the three residency courses add 450 by their course descriptions. The 2018-19 DNP handbook, still the newest Southeastern links, says extra coursework may be needed in some cases to reach 1,000.
That extra coursework is NURS 8090 Advanced Directed Studies: 135 residency hours per enrollment, repeatable twice for credit, with a written proposal of learning outcomes due to faculty before you enroll. A worked example, ours and not Southeastern's: if your MSN verification shows 500 hours, the residencies bring you to 950, and one enrollment in NURS 8090 closes the gap.
Two older figures deserve caution. The same handbook calls the residency 450 practicum hours in one place, while its own mentor agreement form says a minimum of 420 with 60 hours in Residency I. It also allows up to 20 practicum hours to be banked toward a later residency course. Check both points with your DNP faculty, since the 2026-27 catalog is the more recent source for course hours.
The 59-credit version with the PMHNP certificate
This option combines the 39 DNP credits with the 20-credit Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certificate, and on completion Southeastern awards both the DNP and the post-master's certificate. The catalog plan stretches to six semesters and adds NURS 6080, the NURS 6900 psychotherapy observation (60 hours) and three psychiatric clinical courses: NURS 6910 (200 hours), NURS 6920 (275) and NURS 6970 (120).
The fourth and fifth semesters stack clinical and residency work. Our arithmetic from the plan: NURS 6910 plus Residency II makes 380 precepted hours in one fall, and NURS 6920 plus Residency III makes 455 in the following spring. Both psychiatric searches should be finished before the first of those terms opens.
Three conflicts affect planning. The catalog's certificate total is 510 clinical hours, while its courses add to 595. The combined plan puts NURS 6970 in summer, but the course description lists fall and spring. And the certificate's program page requires every practicum experience to be completed in Louisiana. The PMHNP certificate guide covers its admission rules and hours in full.
Your project site, mentor and facility request
Under the 2018-19 handbook you choose a residency mentor from outside the university with faculty input. The mentor should hold at least a master's or be positioned to give you access to the population, data, agency or system your project needs. A letter of agreement is signed by you, the mentor, your faculty member and the DNP program coordinator, and the mentor supplies a current CV.
The same handbook asks every student to file a request for a facility agreement, even when you are confident the university already has one with that site. The request collects the facility's official name, the person authorized to sign and its addresses, and the letter of agreement lists every physical location where project work will happen. IRB approval is expected during Residency I, so the site and mentor need to be settled before that semester.
Many post-master's students base the project where they already work. That can work well, but the handbook's agreement form bars practicum activity while you are paid for work, so residency hours at your employer must be separate, unpaid time. See clinicals where you work and clinical contracts.
How we help post-master's DNP students
- Start from your projectWe begin with your topic and the population it needs, then look for Louisiana organizations where that population, and the data to study it, are within reach.
- Find a mentor who opens doorsWe identify people inside those organizations with the credentials and position the handbook describes, and confirm they are willing to sign on for three residency terms.
- Gather the facility detailsYou receive the official facility name, signatory and addresses the agreement request needs, so the university can start or renew a contract early.
- Add psychiatric preceptors if neededOn the 59-credit route we also search for Louisiana-licensed psychiatric preceptors matched to
NURS 6900,NURS 6910,NURS 6920andNURS 6970. - Stay availableIf a mentor or preceptor changes jobs mid-project, your placement advisor starts looking for a replacement straight away.
Admitted for fall, or planning to apply by July 15? Tell us about your project on the request form.
Questions Southeastern students ask
Can I complete Southeastern's post-master's DNP part time?
The catalog plan is four semesters of full-time study. The 2018-19 DNP handbook adds that Southeastern offers part-time study plans of six or eight semesters for working nurses. Ask the DNP program coordinator which part-time plans run today and how they place the three residency courses, since each residency needs its site and mentor ready.
Do post-master's DNP residency hours have to be in Louisiana?
Southeastern does not say. The DNP pages carry no Louisiana-only line, though the catalog asks for a Louisiana RN license and the state's preceptor rule expects Louisiana licensure. The psychiatric certificate hours in the 59-credit version must be in Louisiana. Ask the Graduate Nursing Office before planning a project site in another state.
Is the post-master's DNP online or on campus?
The catalog says DNP courses are delivered in distance accessible formats, although Southeastern's majors page labels this program on campus. In practice you come to campus for orientation and for your project defense, which the 2018-19 handbook places at the School of Nursing in Hammond, and complete everything else at a distance.
What if my DNP project falls behind schedule?
The 2018-19 DNP handbook says that when extenuating circumstances stop you from finishing during the planning and residency courses, you receive an Incomplete and must finish the next semester under the graduate catalog's policy, or complete the hours through Advanced Directed Studies. It also gives DNP students six calendar years from admission to finish.
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.
- Pediatric and women's health preceptors for
NURS 6820, adult and older-adult primary care forNURS 6830andNURS 6840 - Psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 6910toNURS 6930, with the child and older-adult focus each course sets - Across Louisiana, from the Northshore to Shreveport
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.