Loyola DNP Scholarly Project practicums: NURS G939, G942 and G944
Every Loyola University New Orleans DNP track includes three DNP Scholarly Project practicums at 180 hours apiece: NURS G939, NURS G942 and NURS G944. Together they add 540 supervised hours in settings chosen to fit your project and the DNP Essentials. You choose the site and the project preceptor, and one signed agreement covers all three courses.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Loyola program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Loyola course.
Three courses, one project, 540 hours
The three courses follow the life of the project: NURS G939 DNP Scholarly Project I, Planning and Proposal; NURS G942 DNP Scholarly Project II, Implementation; and NURS G944 DNP Scholarly Project III, Evaluation and Dissemination. Each carries 3 credits and 180 hours. In weekly terms, Loyola's DNP letter pegs each course at roughly 12 hours, reflecting 60 practicum hours for every credit.
The 540 hours appear in every DNP track Loyola offers: the BSN-DNP FNP (1,340 total), the BSN-DNP AGACNP (1,290), Nurse Anesthesia (2,940), the dual AGACNP/Nurse Anesthesia program (3,440) and the MSN-DNP Executive Leader, where they count toward a 1,000-hour total.
| Track | NURS G939 | NURS G942 | NURS G944 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSN-DNP FNP | Summer II (term 6) | Spring III | Summer III |
| BSN-DNP AGACNP | Summer II | Fall III | Spring III |
| Nurse Anesthesia and dual | Summer II | Spring III | Summer III |
| MSN-DNP Executive Leader (2024 plan) | Fall II | Spring II | Summer II |
Heavy terms where project and clinical hours stack
The project courses rarely run alone. On several plans they share a term with a direct-care practicum, and the hours add up quickly.
- BSN-DNP FNP, Spring III:
NURS G942(180) plusNURS G827(200) makes 380 hours in one term - Nurse Anesthesia and dual, Spring III:
NURS G942(180) plusNURS G932(600) makes 780, and dual students addNURS G907(140) for 920 - Nurse Anesthesia and dual, Summer III:
NURS G944(180) plusNURS G934(200) makes 380 - Nurse Anesthesia and dual, Summer II:
NURS G939(180) plusNURS G926, listed at 400 hours in the bulletin and 600 in the 2026 plan, so 580 or 780 depending on which source governs
That Summer II figure is a genuine Loyola conflict, not a rounding difference, so ask your program director which number applies. On any track, a project site near your clinical site, or one that is flexible about hours, makes a heavy term far easier to carry. AGACNP students have the lightest overlap, because their project terms follow the last acute care practicum.
Choosing a project site
Loyola's June 2025 DNP letter leaves the site choice to you, with one test: the setting has to serve the course outcomes and the DNP Essentials. The examples it gives go far past clinics, taking in a CDC program, an ethics committee, a state or local health department, a professional nursing association, a health policy internship or a healthcare organization.
Because the preceptor-student agreement names all three courses, the strongest choice is a setting that can host the project from proposal through dissemination. A site that suits planning but cannot support implementation leaves you searching again mid-project. The letter also urges an early start and a second preceptor option held in reserve, advice that counts double when one organization holds your entire project.
Project sites need the same groundwork as any Loyola practicum: a signed affiliation agreement with the organization, and a request that reaches Placement Approved in Exxat before hours begin.
Who can serve as your project preceptor
The letter's list of suitable project preceptors runs from APRNs and physicians to the executive suite: chief officers, vice presidents of patient care, nursing and organizational administrators, and directors.
The letter's conditions for a project preceptor
- An unencumbered license in the state where the practicum takes place
- No relatives, and nobody who employs you or supervises you directly
- Direct supervision of all practicum hours
- Able to give constructive feedback
The employer condition needs care. The DNP letter bars employers and direct supervisors as project preceptors, while Loyola's Employed at Clinical Site Attestation lets students complete practicum hours inside their own workplace, provided those hours sit in another department and outside their working shifts. Those rules can collide for students who want to run a project where they work, so settle it with the DNP Program Director before you build a proposal around your own organization. Our page on practicums where you work covers the attestation.
The DNP Scholarly Project Preceptor-Student Agreement
Instead of the standard Preceptor Agreement, project courses run on the DNP Scholarly Project Preceptor-Student Agreement. Three signatures go on it (yours, your project preceptor's and a Loyola faculty member's), and a single copy spans all three project courses. It also sets a minimum contact rhythm: each semester, your project preceptor and your Loyola scholarly project advisor talk at least once, by Zoom or phone.
Loyola's Wishlist guide calls the project-course upload the facilitator agreement; it takes the place of the Preceptor Agreement for scholarly project practicums and goes in alongside the preceptor's CV and license. Our Wishlist guide walks through each field and upload.
The agreement covers G939 through G944, so choose a project preceptor who can stay with you for all three courses.
Why DNP students choose us
A project preceptor is a different search from a clinical one: you need a leader with standing in an organization, time for three terms of meetings, and no reporting line to you. We find them. We look for nurse executives, directors, APRNs and physicians in organizations that fit your project question, check that the person is not your employer or supervisor, and confirm the site can host all three courses.
We line up a backup option as Loyola's letter advises, check the organization's affiliation agreement status early, and gather what the Wishlist asks for, including the CV, license and signed agreement. When a project term stacks on a clinical practicum, we plan both placements together so the week stays workable. Sign-off on your placement comes from Loyola's placement office and faculty; we see that the request in front of them is whole, accurate and inside Loyola's rules. Send us your project idea.
Questions Loyola students ask
How many hours is each Loyola DNP Scholarly Project course?
Each of the three courses, NURS G939, NURS G942 and NURS G944, carries 3 credits and 180 practicum hours, for 540 in all. Spread over a term, the DNP letter estimates about a dozen hours weekly, since each credit stands for 60 hours. Your syllabus and scholarly project advisor set how those hours are documented.
Can a supervisor at my job precept my Loyola DNP project?
Not under the DNP practicum requirements letter, which rules out family members, your employer and your direct supervisor as project preceptors. Loyola also has a separate attestation for practicums at a student's workplace, and the two rules read differently, so describe your plan to the DNP Program Director before you ask anyone to sign.
Does a DNP project site have to be a hospital or clinic?
No. Healthcare organizations are only one option on Loyola's list. Health departments, ethics committees, professional nursing associations, CDC programs and health policy internships appear there too. The deciding test is whether the setting supports the course outcomes and the DNP Essentials, and that it has an affiliation agreement with Loyola before any hours start.
Do I need the same preceptor for all three project courses?
The DNP Scholarly Project Preceptor-Student Agreement is written to cover NURS G939, NURS G942 and NURS G944 together, which points to one project preceptor across the sequence. If your preceptor leaves or changes roles mid-project, let your scholarly project advisor know right away and bring in the Clinical Practicum Coordinator, who handles the site paperwork.
When do Executive Leader students take the project courses?
On the 2-year MSN-DNP Executive Leader plan, NURS G939 falls in Fall II, NURS G942 in Spring II and NURS G944 in Summer II. Executive Leader students may also need the elective NURS G965 DNP Practicum if the hours verified from their master's program, added to the 540 project hours, stay under 1,000.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.
- Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for
NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics forNURS G829, acute care forNURS G902, psychiatric care forNURS G856 - Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
- In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum
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