APU's PMHNP clinical courses: four populations, 135 hours each

Four population courses at 135 hours each

APU's catalog sets out the PMHNP clinical courses in prerequisite order, and the PMHNP Preceptor Request form assigns 135 hours to each one. Across the four courses that adds up to 540 hours, the same total as APU's other NP tracks, but spread across four separate placements rather than one continuing course like the FNP's GNRS 600.

The catalog prints units, not hours, for this track, and 3 clinical units per course work out to the same 135 at APU's rate. GNRS 538 has one fewer classroom unit than the others but the same 3 clinical units, so its hours match. The 45 hours per clinical unit page explains the conversion.

What comes before GNRS 535

The PMHNP sequence opens later than the primary care tracks. Ahead of GNRS 535 sit the advanced practice core, with GNRS 510 Family Theory added for this track, and GNRS 612 with its lab. Next come two classroom-only courses of 2 units each, GNRS 534 on integrated psychiatric and health assessment and GNRS 533 on psychiatric theories, and neither logs clinical hours. Our GNRS 612 guide covers the B- gate that applies before any clinical course.

According to the catalog, you may pair GNRS 535 with GNRS 539 Psychopharmacology in one term. If you pair them, a preceptor who manages medications gives you daily practice with what the pharmacology course is teaching, which is worth mentioning when you describe your needs to a site.

The MSN PMHNP runs 54 to 56 units, and the post-master's PMHNP certificate runs 43 units with the same GNRS 533 to GNRS 539 block, so certificate students follow this same clinical path. Admission and degree details are on the MSN PMHNP page.

GNRS 535: the one course with a wider preceptor list

The PMHNP request form names a psychiatrist (MD) or a PMHNP as the standard preceptor. It makes one exception: in GNRS 535 alone, the form also accepts a psychologist or an LMFT (licensed marriage and family therapist). That lines up with the course's focus on psychiatric interventions and with the program's training in individual, family and group psychotherapy.

The exception ends after the first course. From GNRS 536 onward, plan on a psychiatrist or a PMHNP for every remaining course. The form also requires every PMHNP student to spend at least one semester with a PMHNP, so a therapist in GNRS 535 has to be balanced by a psychiatric nurse practitioner later in the sequence.

If a counseling practice offers you a GNRS 535 spot, check with clinical faculty that the setting gives enough psychiatric patient contact for the course objectives before you submit the form. A quick answer from faculty now saves you from logging hours that do not count later.

GNRS 536 and GNRS 537: matching the panel to the population

The middle two courses are defined by who the patients are. GNRS 536 covers adults and older adults, and GNRS 537 covers children and adolescents. Each carries 6 units, 3 classroom and 3 clinical, for 135 hours. The practical test for any site is whether the preceptor's daily schedule consists mostly of that age group.

For GNRS 536, adult psychiatric care comes in many forms, and APU names people with severe or chronic mental illness as the program's focus, so outpatient psychiatry and programs serving that group both fit the course title. For GNRS 537, a general adult practice with an occasional teenage patient will not fill 135 hours with the right age group. Look for a psychiatrist or PMHNP whose panel is mostly children and adolescents, and begin that search early.

Any specialty clinic needs faculty review on the PMHNP form before it counts. If the best available child or adult site is a specialty program, send it to faculty first and put it on the form second.

GNRS 538: selected populations and faculty review

GNRS 538 Psychiatric Mental Health Care with Selected Populations carries 5 units, 2 classroom and 3 clinical, and still 135 hours. The catalog publishes no fixed list of populations for it, so the syllabus and your clinical faculty decide which settings qualify.

This is where the specialty clinic rule matters most. Because the population is selected rather than set by age, the setting is often a specialty program, and each specialty clinic needs faculty review before it counts. Build that review into your timeline, together with an affiliation agreement if the site has never hosted an APU student.

GNRS 538 is also the last course in the sequence, which makes it a sensible place to complete the required PMHNP semester if you have not had one yet. Hours are logged weekly in Medatrax, and hours at a site that has not been cleared are removed, so wait for written approval before your first day.

The PMHNP request form and the rest of the paperwork

PMHNP students use their own form. The student hub lists a separate PMHNP Preceptor Request form beside the Nursing Education form and the Azusa and Inland Empire NP form, one submission per preceptor. It collects your course number, the preceptor's contact and credential details, and the details the affiliation agreement and site contact depend on: the clinic's exact legal name, the person authorized to sign, and an office manager contact. The request form guide walks through each field.

Two rules on the form catch people out. Relatives and close friends are ruled out as preceptors, and a rotation inside your own employer has to happen away from your home unit. The whole list is on our preceptor requirements page.

Campus lists conflict for this track. The MSN NP page names three campuses, Azusa, San Diego and the Inland Empire, for every NP specialty, yet both the PMHNP certificate page and APU's recent guidelines stop at two for this track: Azusa and the Inland Empire. Confirm your campus with the program before you plan a search around it.

How we match PMHNP students with psychiatric preceptors

We plan the four courses as a set. For GNRS 535 we work from the full list the form allows; for GNRS 536 and GNRS 537 we look for psychiatrists and PMHNPs whose patients match the age group; for GNRS 538 we find a setting that fits the selected population and prepare it for faculty review. Along the way we make sure one of the four terms is spent with a PMHNP.

For each preceptor we gather what the PMHNP form asks for, from the credential to the clinic's legal name, signer and office manager, and we check whether APU already holds an affiliation agreement with the site. The Graduate Placement Team confirms each placement in writing before you start; our work is putting a complete, rule-ready request in front of them. See how it works or share your start term in the form below.

Questions APU students ask