APU MSN in Nursing Education: two practicums, one plan
The MSN in Nursing Education at Azusa Pacific University (APU) runs online, with a hybrid option, and it welcomes nurses outside Southern California. The degree carries two practicums: GNRS 518, supervised direct patient care in a specialty you pick, and GNRS 663, a 135-hour capstone under a nurse educator preceptor, for about 225 hours in all. APU's site form makes finding the preceptor and setting your responsibility.
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Program and deliveryThe two practicumsWho finds the sitePreceptor profileOutside Southern CaliforniaTerm-by-term planWhy students choose usQuestionsProgram shape and delivery
The MSN is 37 units and builds the competencies measured on the CNE exam. Coursework is asynchronous online. A hybrid option moves some core courses to a campus, and APU's pages differ on which ones: the catalog names Azusa, the Inland Empire, Monrovia and San Diego, while the program page adds High Desert alongside online study.
Admission is rolling, with deadlines about three weeks before each semester. If you already hold a master's, the 21-unit Post-Master's Certificate in Nursing Education carries the same two practicums and the same 225 hours.
Unlike APU's NP programs, this degree does not require Southern California residence. It does require that your nursing license be active and unencumbered in whichever state hosts your practicum. Its online sister degree, the MSN in Healthcare Administration and Leadership, follows the same license rule.
The two practicums
The two courses call for different preceptors, so treat them as two separate searches on one timeline.
| Course | Units (class/clinical) | Hours | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
GNRS 518 Supervised Practicum in Health Care | 3 (1/2) | 90, computed from 2 clinical units | Direct patient care in an area of practice you choose |
GNRS 663 Nurse Educator Practicum | 3 (0/3) | 135, stated by APU | Teaching practice under a nurse educator preceptor; recommended after GNRS 660 to GNRS 662 |
GNRS 518 keeps your clinical practice current in a specialty you choose, which makes it a natural place to deepen the content you hope to teach. GNRS 663 is the teaching capstone and comes late, after the education courses. Our nursing education practicum page covers the capstone in detail.
ELM graduates who choose this track must build the equivalent of a year of RN clinical practice before they can start GNRS 663.
Who finds the practicum site
APU's School of Nursing will help, but its Nursing Education site form is direct: "it is ultimately your responsibility to find an appropriate preceptor and setting." Any site you request depends on an existing APU contract or on the agency's willingness to start one.
The student hub keeps a separate request form for Nursing Education. It collects the site and preceptor details APU needs, and it asks students outside Los Angeles for their city and state. Faculty and the placement team review it, and the site must be cleared before your first hour. Our request form guide explains the fields.
If the agency has no APU contract, the affiliation agreement is the slowest step. Open that conversation a term ahead, not in the first week of class.
What makes a good nurse educator preceptor
For GNRS 663, APU's catalog asks for a nurse educator preceptor. Depending on what your course faculty approve, that can be a faculty member in a prelicensure program, a clinical instructor, or a clinical nurse educator or professional development specialist in a hospital. APU keeps the fuller qualifications in a preceptor handbook that is not publicly posted.
For GNRS 518, the preceptor is a clinician in the practice area you pick. APU's graduate guidelines still apply: relatives and close friends are ruled out as preceptors, and practicum time at your employer requires a written division of labor, during which you do none of your usual duties and draw no pay.
One efficient pattern uses the same organization for both, for example a medical-surgical unit for GNRS 518 and the same hospital's education department for GNRS 663. That can mean one agreement conversation instead of two, as long as faculty approve both settings.
Studying from outside Southern California
Because the program is online and open to applicants anywhere, location questions come up often. The practicum happens where your license is active, which is why APU's site form collects your city and state.
APU is a California institution, and California is the only state outside SARA, so APU must meet each other state's rules for students located there. It is not accepting distance applicants who live in Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming or Washington, DC, and it notes that the list changes often. Our state authorization guide has the detail.
Away from Southern California, an agency may know little about APU, so budget extra time for its legal team to review a new agreement.
Planning the practicums term by term
APU publishes no sample plan for this MSN, so treat the order below as our suggested timing, built from the course rules:
- Early in the program: choose your
GNRS 518specialtyPick a practice area tied to what you want to teach, and ask your advisor which term suits the course. - Two terms before
GNRS 518: name the siteIdentify the organization and preceptor, check whether an APU contract exists, and submit the Nursing Education request form. - Complete
GNRS 660toGNRS 662APU recommends finishing these before the capstone, so your teaching practicum builds on them. - Two terms before
GNRS 663: secure the educatorLine up a nurse educator preceptor and confirm the agency's agreement status early. - During each practicum: log and evaluateRecord hours the way your course requires; APU's graduate guidelines use Medatrax with weekly entries.
Why nurse educator students choose us
We search for both preceptors together: a clinician in your chosen specialty for GNRS 518 and a nurse educator for GNRS 663, ideally in organizations that can host both. We match the educator to the teaching you want to do, whether that is a prelicensure classroom and skills lab or a hospital's professional development team. If you live outside Southern California, we search where you live and find out early whether the agency will sign an APU agreement.
We prepare what APU's Nursing Education form and the agreement need, including the preceptor's credentials, the agency's legal name, the person who signs for it and the education or placement contact. If an educator's schedule shifts mid-term, we bring you another who fits the capstone. APU's faculty clear every site; we make sure the request in front of them is complete. Start on our contact page.
Questions APU students ask
Can I do the nurse educator practicum at the hospital where I work?
Often, with conditions. Practicum hours at your workplace need a division of labor in writing, signed by your employer, and those hours cannot overlap with your paid duties. APU's 2026 NP request forms keep clinical time off the unit where you work, so ask whether that applies here; an education department elsewhere in the hospital may fit if faculty approve.
Does the MSN in Nursing Education include patient care hours?
Yes, in one course. GNRS 518 is a supervised practicum in direct patient care, about 90 hours by APU's unit math, in a practice area you choose. GNRS 663, the 135-hour capstone, is teaching practice under a nurse educator rather than bedside care, so the two practicums feel quite different.
Do I need a California license for APU's online nursing education degree?
Your license must be active, unencumbered and issued by the state where the practicum happens. That state can be outside California, as long as APU accepts distance applicants from your state; it is not taking them from 14 states plus Washington, DC. Check APU's current list before you apply.
Does the post-master's certificate in nursing education have fewer practicum hours?
No. The 21-unit Post-Master's Certificate in Nursing Education carries the same two practicums as the MSN, GNRS 518 and GNRS 663, for the same 225 hours. The unit count is lower because you already hold a master's, not because the practicums are shorter.
What if the agency I want has no contract with APU?
APU's site form says a requested site depends on an existing APU contract or on the agency's willingness to start one. A new agreement is possible but takes time, so name the agency well before the term and have its legal name, legal signer and education contact ready when you submit.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against APU's own catalog and program pages. Your syllabus, your clinical faculty and APU's student placement coordinators have the final word.
APU says the clinical site and preceptor are yours to find. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your APU program, where you live in Southern California and when your next clinical term starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what APU and the site need before anything is approved.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
GNRS 600, pediatrics for the PNP courses, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Credentials, license and site details ready for APU's review and the affiliation agreement
- Close to home, from the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Diego
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