RN to MSN Clinical Hours Requirements
Every advanced practice nursing position requires extensive time working in a supervised clinical role; just as obtaining RN status does with an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree or a diploma. The rule of thumb for clinical hours – called a practicum – in advance practice nursing MSN programs seems to be five hundred hours minimum. No one is quite sure of the origin of this figure, but nursing schools across the country work with 500 hours as a starting point and adjust requirements as the faculty deems fit. MSN students or graduates seeking certification as a Nurse Practitioner may expect that range of clinical hours responsibility.
Variations Among MSN Specialties
Some schools vary their requirements slightly: the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing requires 540 hours from its Family Nurse Practitioner students, in addition to which there is a capstone project to complete the master’s degree. Clinical Nurse Specialists in this program also put in 540 clinical hours. MSN candidates seeking the Nurse Administrator credential do not go through as rigorous a program; the credit load is substantially less and there are 360 clinical hours required.
Some schools break the practicum components up based on degree of specialization. Eastern Michigan University has an MSN program in Adult Nursing that requires 225 clinical hours, with an additional 275 hours for those who wish to specialize in Clinical Nurse Specialist or Clinical Nurse Leader. The gradations are similar for students who are focused on the Nurse Administrator role, requiring far fewer hours than the Nurse Practitioner specialties.
The Nurse Midwifery specialization for MSN students requires additional training as compared to the Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner positions and additional clinical hours as well. In Cincinnati nine hundred clinical hours are necessary for the training component of this program. The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing operates a graduate nursing program at Shenandoah University that is designed to train medical professionals for an underserved rural area. The nurse midwifery program there requires 720 clinical hours.
Nurse Educator specialists in an MSN program are required to complete substantial clinical hours despite the fact that their training is in education rather than a medical specialty. The University of Cincinnati treats this specialization as a rigorous program matching the medical specializations, requiring 540 hours. Temple University required 600 clinical hours of its Nurse Educator students.
When a BSN is Necessary Too
Students without a bachelor’s degree who wish to embark on the RN to MSN track are going to need to complete a BSN in most programs first. Several of these have practicum hours for RNs enrolled in the undergraduate program as well. Kentucky State University has a 240 clinical hour requirement for its RN to BSN students; sixty hours associated with each of four courses. If a student is enrolled in an integrated RN to MSN program that includes the BSN training, the requirement for clinical hours may be lessened somewhat if the program has been streamlined to accommodate practicing nurses.
