Samford PMHNP clinicals: NURG 788, 789 and 790
Samford's psychiatric-mental health NP tracks run three psychiatric clinical courses back to back: NURG 788 (150 hours), NURG 789 (225) and NURG 790 PMHNP Practicum (300). With the 75 hours in NURG 767, they make up the 750 clinical hours on every PMHNP plan of study. Every preceptor and site passes through Samford's review, and the strongest plans have all three rotations mapped before the first one starts.
Get your PMHNP rotations lined up
Tell us your track and your first clinical term. Your placement advisor starts with the course that comes first.
Three psychiatric clinicals, one per semester
Samford's plans of study, dated December 2025, give every PMHNP option the same clinical ladder. Each course fills a full semester, each one carries more hours than the last, and each sits beside a psychiatric didactic course taken in the same term. The table uses the BSN to MSN version; the other three tracks keep the same pairings on their own calendars.
| Course | Title in the plan | Clinical hours | Term | Taken alongside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURG 767 | Psychotherapeutic Frameworks and Modalities | 75 | Year 1 spring | NURG 769 Psychopharmacology, NURG 771 Psychiatric Mental Health I |
NURG 788 | Advanced Practice Clinical I - PMHNP | 150 | Year 2 summer | NURG 772 Psychiatric Mental Health II (child and adolescent) |
NURG 789 | Advanced Practice Clinical II - PMHNP | 225 | Year 2 fall | NURG 774 Psychiatric Mental Health III (adult and geriatric) |
NURG 790 | PMHNP Practicum | 300 | Year 2 spring | NURG 606 Systems Leadership |
Samford's program pages place PMHNP clinicals in a variety of mental health care settings. The population and setting each course expects are written into the syllabus and the NP Clinical Manual, both inside Canvas, so read them the day a course opens. NURG 767 has its own page on the 75 versus 60 hour question.
When the clinicals fall in each PMHNP track
The four PMHNP options start at different times of year, yet all of them run the three psychiatric clinicals in consecutive semesters: summer, then fall, then spring. That is roughly a year of continuous rotations with no clinical break in between.
| Track and start | NURG 767 | NURG 788 | NURG 789 | NURG 790 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSN to MSN, May start | Year 1 spring | Year 2 summer | Year 2 fall | Year 2 spring |
| ADN to MSN, August start | Year 2 spring | Year 2 summer | Year 3 fall | Year 3 spring |
| MSN to DNP, August start | Year 1 fall | Year 1 summer | Year 2 fall | Year 2 spring |
| Post-graduate certificate, August start | Year 1 spring | Year 1 summer | Year 2 fall | Year 2 spring |
MSN to DNP students meet NURG 767 in their very first fall, so their search begins before classes do. In every track, the first psychiatric rotation and the practicum sit only two semesters apart, which is why one planned search at the start tends to work better than three rushed ones. The PMHNP MSN page covers the rest of the degree.
What each rotation asks of your week
Samford's NP pages describe clinical time as somewhere between 10 and 20 hours weekly, varying by rotation. Dividing each course's hours by the length of its semester on this year's graduate calendar shows the load climbing. These are our estimates, not Samford figures, and your course sets the real schedule.
NURG 788, summer: roughly 12 or 13 hours weekly if your course uses the 12-week summer session, which runs from mid-May to early August 2027.NURG 789, fall: roughly 15 or 16 hours weekly over a fall term that starts in late August 2026 and ends in early December.NURG 790, spring: close to 20 hours weekly over a spring term running from mid-January to late April 2027, the upper end of Samford's range.
Two practical points follow. A preceptor who sees patients one half-day a week cannot carry the practicum, so ask about clinic days before anything else. The graduate calendar also shows some clinical experiences beginning a week early in January, so ask your course faculty whether your spring rotation is one of them. Our clinical hours planner lays out every Samford program the same way.
Finding psychiatric preceptors near home
Samford's existing agreements already reach hundreds of agencies, weighted toward the Southeast, and a student with a willing preceptor nearby can ask the school to add one more. The same program pages credit personal and professional contacts with opening doors close to home; that passage and what it asks of you is covered on its own page.
For a psychiatric rotation, fit matters as much as distance. Under Alabama Board of Nursing rules, an advanced practice preceptor can be a nurse practitioner or other APRN, a physician, or another suitably licensed clinician whose focus is the same patient population, and every name still goes through Samford's approval. The preceptor requirements page lists what to confirm before you ask anyone to commit.
Mental health clinicians are stretched thin. HRSA's shortage summary as of June 30, 2026 counts 67 mental health designations in Alabama, with about 28 percent of need met. An earlier version of Samford's PMHNP page, live from 2022 to 2024, compared clinical placement to getting a job, with applications, resumes or interviews at many facilities. The current page is shorter, but the advice still serves you: approach each site the way you would approach an employer.
Before each rotation starts
Three things need to be settled each semester, and each one takes longer than students tend to expect.
- An approved clinical rotation request for the preceptor and site. Samford's handbook warns that requests can be denied on state rules, so a site in another state needs extra lead time; see clinicals outside Alabama.
- An affiliation agreement that covers the site, or a request for a new one made early enough for both sides to sign.
- Clearance items that stay valid until the term's last day, refreshed ahead of registration: the Health Data Record, TB testing, the yearly flu vaccine, AHA BLS and an RN license valid in the clinical state.
Some health systems add their own onboarding on top of Samford's list. Huntsville Hospital, for example, asks NP students to complete orientation modules, according to its student page. Leave a few weeks for site steps before every rotation, not only the first.
How we set up all three PMHNP rotations
Samford PMHNP students come to us because we plan the psychiatric sequence as one project instead of three separate scrambles. Your placement advisor works from your plan of study, the term dates and the course each preceptor has to fit.
- Map your ladderWe confirm your track, your start term and when
NURG 767,NURG 788,NURG 789andNURG 790fall, then set a target date for each preceptor. - Find psychiatric preceptors near homeWe reach PMHNPs, psychiatrists and mental health practices in your community whose patients and clinic days fit each course's hours.
- Prepare what Samford reviewsWe gather the preceptor and site details for your clinical rotation request and raise any need for a new affiliation agreement months ahead, while there is still time to sign it.
- Keep onboarding movingWe track each site's extra steps against your Samford compliance dates, so nothing expires in the middle of a rotation.
- Stay on callIf a preceptor steps away, your advisor opens a new search right away and sends Samford a fresh set of details.
Start the practicum search early. NURG 790 needs about 20 hours a week from one preceptor and follows the other two rotations with no break, so begin looking while you are still in NURG 788, not after NURG 789 ends.
Questions Samford students ask
Does Samford assign PMHNP clinical placements?
No current Samford page says it assigns PMHNP preceptors. Samford holds hundreds of affiliation agreements, reviews every clinical rotation request, adds agreements when a student's preceptor is available, and approves each preceptor and site. Its program pages point to personal and professional contacts as the key to placements near home, and supplying those contacts is our job.
Did Samford's PMHNP program used to require fewer clinical hours?
Yes. In a June 2025 archived copy, the PMHNP MSN page set the floor at 660 clinical hours. The current program pages and the plans of study dated December 2025 list 750. If you entered under an older plan, your program coordinator can confirm which total applies to you.
Can I do Samford PMHNP clinicals in another state?
Yes, in states where Samford accepts NP students. Your RN license must be valid in every state where you train, and the handbook notes that rotation requests can be denied based on state rules. Sixteen states are closed to Samford NP applicants who live there or are licensed only there, so check that list before any move.
Which certification exams can Samford PMHNP graduates take?
Samford names ANCC and AANPCB for PMHNP certification. Its graduate handbook adds a caution for the AANPCB route: check that your state's nursing board recognizes that board's PMHNP credential before you register. Our certification page compares the two boards in more detail.
Can one preceptor cover more than one PMHNP clinical course?
Samford's public documents leave that to the course. Each clinical has its own hours and population focus, and each rotation request is reviewed on its own, so check with your course faculty, or the clinical manual posted in the NP Homeroom on Canvas, before planning one preceptor for two courses.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.
Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.
Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 788 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
- In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.