NRS 857 at Clarkson College: applying what NRS 856 started
NRS 857 Application of Psychiatric-Mental Health Concepts is the second psychiatric course in Clarkson College's PMHNP track: 160 clinical hours on the MSN and certificate plan and 200 on the doctoral plan, every one of them with a psychiatrist or PMHNP. The therapist block is behind you, the patients grow more complex, and the middle of the track is a good moment to build the hours with young patients that Clarkson's PMHNP sheet requires.
Line up your NRS 857 preceptor
Share your NRS 856 term and state. We time the search to your next agreement deadline.
NRS 857 by the numbers
The catalog course page lists 160 hours for the MSN and certificate and 200 for students in the BSN to DNP, the doctoral figure applying from Spring 2024. On the MSN side that is ten hours more than NRS 856; on the doctoral side the number holds at 200.
| MSN or certificate | BSN to DNP | |
|---|---|---|
| Course hours | 160 | 200 |
| Weekly pace, 15-week fall or spring | About 10.7 | About 13.3 |
| Weekly pace, 12-week summer | About 13.3 | About 16.7 |
| Halfway checkpoint | 80 | 100 |
| Prerequisite | NRS 856 | NRS 856 |
Summer is the tight term. Twelve weeks instead of fifteen means roughly a quarter more time at the clinic each week, and Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook expected half the hours done by midterm. If your NRS 857 lands in May, pick a preceptor whose clinic days can stretch.
What the course adds after NRS 856
The catalog frames NRS 857 as applying psychiatric-mental health concepts to more complex problems, still with patients of every age. Choose a preceptor who is comfortable letting you take a larger share of each visit as the weeks go by: the history, the working diagnosis, the plan you then present.
Every hour now belongs with a psychiatrist or a PMHNP. Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP sheet placed the 50 therapist hours in NRS 856 alone and kept physician assistants out of all four psychiatric courses. The standing rules carry over unchanged: a license valid where you train, a minimum of two years in practice, work related to the course and no relatives.
Keep your NRS 856 preceptor, or move?
Staying is allowed and often the simplest choice. The site already has whatever affiliation agreement Clarkson needed, and your preceptor knows what you can do. You still file a fresh Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form, because Clarkson's sheets asked for one per preceptor for each course and each semester, even when nothing else changes.
Moving has its own payoff. A second setting widens the range of patients in your Typhon log, and that range matters for the age-group minimums below. A middle path is to keep your main preceptor and add another provider for a slice of the hours. Two preceptors in one course need no extra sign-off under Clarkson's sheets, though each still files an agreement of their own.
Building your under-18 hours
Clarkson's PMHNP sheet sets population minimums: the younger end of the age range needs 50 hours with patients under 18, the older end 50 hours with patients 60 and up, and the middle 100 hours with adults 18 to 59. Most general psychiatric practices supply adult hours readily. Younger patients take planning, and a course in the middle of the track leaves time to fix a shortfall before NRS 859.
Look for a psychiatrist or PMHNP whose panel includes children and teens, such as a child and adolescent psychiatric practice or a community mental health center that treats families. Using a second preceptor for this block keeps your main placement intact.
Near Omaha, Children's Nebraska publishes its own route for advanced practice students, and its page names PMHNP as one of the advanced practice student tracks it supports. MSN and DNP students request through myClinicalExchange; the deadlines are Oct. 1 (spring), Feb. 1 (summer) and June 1 (fall). Children's reviews requests at a Match Day about three months ahead, turns away late ones, gives its own team members priority and needs a contract with the college, so the outcome rests with Children's. The health-system requests page compares that route with the others.
The NRS 857 paperwork runs during NRS 856
Because the agreement is due well before the term, the search for an NRS 857 preceptor happens while you are still working through NRS 856. Here is how the dates line up when NRS 857 is your Spring 2027 course, using the deadlines from Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook and 2023 sheets; confirm the current ones with your advisor.
- Aug. 20, 2026Fall 2026 opens with NRS 856. Begin contacting NRS 857 preceptors in the first weeks.
- Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, 2026Nebraska Medicine's application window for spring nurse practitioner placements, if you apply there.
- Oct. 1, 2026The Children's Nebraska myClinicalExchange deadline for spring.
- Nov. 1, 2026The Clarkson agreement deadline for spring clinical courses.
- Jan. 7, 2027Spring 2027 begins. Hours start once final approval and course faculty sign-off are in.
The clinical deadlines page gives the summer and fall versions of this calendar.
What we handle for NRS 857
Clarkson students bring us in at this stage for a practical reason: the next search has to run while a full clinical course is under way. We read your NRS 856 hours by age group, then find the NRS 857 preceptor, or a second provider, that closes the gaps. Every name is checked against the November 2023 PMHNP rules before it reaches you.
We time the search to the Clarkson deadline and, where it applies, to a health system's own window, gather the legal agency name and preceptor details for the DocuSign form, and flag any site that needs a new affiliation agreement. If a preceptor steps away mid-term, we find a replacement; the steps are on the preceptor dropped out page. Start with the form below.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can my NRS 856 preceptor also precept NRS 857?
Yes, if they still meet Clarkson's rules and agree to continue. You file a new agreement form for the new course and semester, even with the same preceptor and site, and wait for approval before logging hours. You can also keep that preceptor and add a second one for a population you are missing.
Do I need therapist hours in NRS 857?
Not under the November 2023 PMHNP sheet, which put the 50 therapist hours in NRS 856. In NRS 857 every hour sits with a psychiatrist or a PMHNP. If a newer sheet from your course faculty says otherwise, follow it, since Clarkson no longer posts its clinical sheets publicly.
How many hours a week does NRS 857 take in summer?
Divide the catalog hours by twelve weeks: roughly 13.3 a week on the 160-hour MSN plan and roughly 16.7 on the 200-hour doctoral plan. Clarkson does not publish weekly figures; these are ours. Front-load where you can, since half the hours should be logged by midterm.
Does Children's Nebraska take PMHNP students?
Children's own page includes PMHNP in its roster of supported APRN student programs and has MSN and DNP students apply through myClinicalExchange. It assigns preceptors based on availability, gives its own staff priority and requires a contract with the student's college, so any request is decided by Children's under its own rules.
Can I split NRS 857 between two preceptors?
Yes. Two is the number Clarkson's sheets let you reach on your own; going past two took written approval from faculty. Each preceptor files a separate agreement, and a second site may need its own affiliation agreement, which can add weeks before those hours count.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.