EKU PMHNP clinical hours: what EKU publishes, what it leaves out, where to confirm
EKU has not published a clinical hour total for its Psychiatric Mental Health NP program, not on the program page, not in the 2026-27 catalog and not in the archived handbooks or curriculum plans. What it does publish is the clinical structure: 8 credits of NSC 800 and the 5-credit NSC 886 internship. This guide shows what that structure tells you, what it can't, and how to get the number that applies to you.
Plan psychiatric clinicals around your hours
Share your PMHNP term and location. Once you have your hour target, your placement advisor builds the preceptor search around it.
The short answer: EKU posts no PMHNP total
Among EKU's NP tracks, only one comes with a published clinical hour figure, and it isn't the PMHNP. The MSN Family Nurse Practitioner page gives 750 direct patient care hours. The MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner page, last updated in July 2026, is silent on hours, preceptors and sites, and the catalog entry for the concentration lists courses and credits only.
The older paper trail stops short as well. EKU's 2021-22 MSN Student Handbook and its 2023 PMHNP curriculum plans, both reachable today only as archived copies, set out courses and credit splits with no PMHNP hour count. The post-MSN PMHNP certificate page and its catalog entry say nothing on hours either. If you see a precise EKU PMHNP figure somewhere, ask where it came from, because none of EKU's public documents supplies one.
What EKU does publish about PMHNP clinicals
The catalog fixes the clinical courses and their credits, and that is the solid ground to plan from.
| Clinical course | Credits | When you take it | Hours published |
|---|---|---|---|
NSC 800 Advanced Practice Role | 8 in total | Alongside NSC 880, NSC 882 and NSC 884 (PMHNP I to III) | No |
NSC 886 PMHNP Internship | 5 | After NSC 884 and the NSC 800 credits | No |
| Both courses together (our sum) | 13 | Across the second half of the program | No |
Those 13 clinical credits sit within a 49-credit degree, next to didactic courses such as NSC 881 Applied Psychopharmacology. NSC 800 is the same course FNP students take; only the concentration course running beside it changes. The internship itself is covered in the NSC 886 guide.
EKU's archived 2023 PMHNP plans spread NSC 800 as 2 credits with PMHNP I, 2 with PMHNP II and 4 with PMHNP III, then scheduled NSC 886 over 16 weeks. The post-MSN PMHNP certificate carries the same two clinical courses at the same credits, which suggests one hour expectation for both routes, but EKU states it for neither.
Why the FNP's 750 hours don't carry over
Borrowing the FNP number and adjusting it looks like a shortcut, and it doesn't hold. The 750 hours belong to the FNP track, which has one more clinical credit than the PMHNP: 8 of NSC 800 plus the 6-credit NSC 876. EKU has never said how a clinical credit converts to clock hours, so there is no basis for scaling 750 up or down, or for assuming the two tracks land on the same total.
The credit history makes the shortcut shakier still. In EKU's 2021-22 handbook the internships were reversed, 5 credits for FNP and 6 for PMHNP, with 9 and 7 credits of NSC 800. The current catalog flipped the internships and set both tracks at 8 credits of NSC 800. Any figure worked out under the old split no longer fits the new one. The clinical hours overview compares every EKU program side by side.
Don't ask a psychiatric preceptor to commit to a borrowed number. Until your faculty or plan of study gives you a PMHNP total in writing, treat every figure, 750 included, as unconfirmed.
What outside listings say
Third-party directories run into the same gap. One national NP school directory, updated in August 2026, lists EKU's PMHNP clinical hours as "Not Listed" while showing 750 for the FNP. Other sites summarize EKU's clinicals in ways EKU's own pages don't support, so treat any outside claim about EKU as a lead to check with EKU, never as policy.
Public student forums don't fill the hole either. The threads about EKU's PMHNP that are visible online discuss synchronous class times and a pathophysiology course rather than clinical totals. For a number you can plan a semester around, EKU's own documents and your faculty are the only sources that count.
Still choosing a program? Put the question to an EKU enrollment counselor before you apply, and ask for the PMHNP clinical hour figure alongside the credit total, so you can compare programs on the same terms.
When your hour total matters beyond EKU
Kentucky's regulation for APRN programs sets no minimum clinical hour number; hours follow the national accreditation standards, and CCNE accredits EKU's master's program. A few other states, though, look at clinical hours when a graduate applies for an APRN license there, which matters if you study with EKU online from outside Kentucky.
- Kansas: the Kansas State Board of Nursing checks for at least 500 role-specialty clinical hours for students admitted before March 1, 2025, and at least 750 for students admitted after that date.
- South Dakota: the South Dakota Board of Nursing requires a graduate APRN program with at least 500 clinical hours in the role and population focus.
If you plan to license in a state that checks hours, ask EKU early for written confirmation of the PMHNP clinical hours you will complete, so the documentation is ready when the board asks for it. The state guides set out each board's rules, and the state authorization guide shows which states EKU enrolls online PMHNP students from.
Where to get your PMHNP number
EKU's public pages are silent, but several documents you receive as a student are likely to hold the answer. Try them roughly in this order:
- Your plan of studyAsk your advisor whether the clinical hour target for
NSC 800andNSC 886is recorded with the plan EKU built for you. - The syllabus for each clinical courseThe
NSC 800andNSC 886syllabi in Canvas are the natural home for hour expectations in a given term, including how they are split. - The current MSN Student HandbookEKU's PMHNP page points students to the MSN Student Handbook. Ask your faculty for the current edition, since the last public copy dates from 2021-22.
- Your clinical facultyFaculty confirm which activities count, how hours are logged and verified, and whether any telehealth time applies. Ask by myMail so the answer is in writing.
Planning a psychiatric preceptor without a posted total
An unposted total is mostly a scheduling risk. Your preceptor has to commit enough clinic days across long courses: EKU's archived plans ran the larger NSC 800 blocks and the internship over 16 weeks each. The archived MSN handbook said as much: it described the clinical hours as extensive and asked students to factor them into decisions about work.
Your placement advisor plans with that margin in mind. Once your faculty gives you a target, we look for a psychiatric preceptor near home whose clinic days can cover it with room to spare, prepare the preceptor and site details EKU reviews, and stay on call if a schedule slips. Start by sending your term through the contact page.
Questions EKU students ask
Is EKU's PMHNP program 500 clinical hours?
EKU hasn't published a PMHNP clinical hour total, so neither 500 nor any other number can be confirmed from EKU's own pages. What EKU does publish is the structure: 8 credits of NSC 800 taken with PMHNP I to III and a 5-credit NSC 886 internship. Your faculty or plan of study is where the actual target lives.
Does the post-MSN PMHNP certificate need the same clinical hours as the MSN?
EKU doesn't state an hour total for either route. The certificate's 34 credits include the same clinical courses at the same credits, 8 of NSC 800 and 5 of NSC 886, and the catalog applies all MSN policies to certificate students. That points to matching clinical expectations, but confirm the number for your own plan before you schedule a preceptor.
Do telehealth psychiatry visits count toward EKU PMHNP hours?
EKU hasn't published a telehealth hour policy. Its archived 2021-22 handbook names a Telehealth Checklist only for FNP students in NSC 800 and NSC 876. Because so much psychiatric care now happens by video, ask your clinical faculty before counting telehealth days, and keep the answer in writing.
What happens if I haven't finished my PMHNP hours when the term ends?
EKU's graduate catalog uses an In Progress (IP) mark for approved courses such as practicums, and an IP in a practicum or internship must be finished within the calendar year or it becomes NC. Talk to your faculty as soon as you fall behind; our behind on hours guide sets out practical next steps.
How are PMHNP clinical hours tracked at EKU?
EKU hasn't named the system MSN students use to log clinical hours. Your NSC 800 and NSC 886 courses will explain how to record hours and have them verified. Keep your own dated record of each clinic day, the site, your preceptor and the hours worked as well, so any gap can be settled quickly.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against EKU's own catalog, program pages and handbooks, and Kentucky's regulations. The current MSN Student Handbook, your course and your faculty have the final word.
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