USU's MSN Health Care Leadership: planning the 100-hour residency
USU's Health Care Leadership MSN is 30 online credits with every practicum hour in one course: MSN587, 100 hours alongside a nurse leader with a graduate degree and a year or more in a leadership role. It is the leadership MSN USU is admitting to, and while it has no advanced clinical courses, its preceptor still has to be found and approved months ahead.
Find your leadership preceptor
Tell us your residency session and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what a USU-ready nurse leader preceptor looks like near you.
The degree at a glance
The 2026-2027 catalog builds the concentration from the MSN core, five leadership courses and the residency, all online. There are no advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology or assessment courses in this track, and only MSN587 carries hours.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
MSN560, MSN561, MSN563, MSN565 | MSN core | 3 each |
MSN580 | Strategic Planning and Project Management in Healthcare | 3 |
MSN581 | Innovation in Organizational and Systems Leadership | 3 |
MSN582 | Leadership and Organizational Behavior | 3 |
MSN584 | Quality Measures, Safety, and Improving Patient Outcomes | 3 |
MSN586 | Entrepreneurship in Advanced Practice Nursing | 2 |
MSN587 | Residency in Nursing Leadership and Systems Management (100 hours) | 2 |
MSN600 | Evidence Based Capstone Project | 2 |
USU lists four other MSN concentrations, including Administration & Management, as not accepting applicants, which leaves Health Care Leadership as the leadership route open to new students. If you enrolled in one of those tracks earlier, see the closed MSN tracks instead.
When the residency comes, and why that's unclear
Your preceptor deadline depends on how long you take, and USU publishes more than one figure. The catalog gives a range of 12 to 22 months, spread over anywhere from three semesters to six; the time-to-completion policy calls 22 months standard and sets the ceiling at 55; and USU's degree page talks of 24 months, or 12 on an accelerated pathway.
The catalog places MSN587 at the last session and makes it non-transferable. Counting back 6 months for your three preceptor leads, a student finishing in 12 months names them around month 4, while one on a 22- to 24-month plan does so around month 14 to 16. On the accelerated pace you are choosing a leadership preceptor while still early in your coursework.
The catalog also lists MSN587 as a prerequisite for the MSN600 capstone, which doesn't square neatly with a residency in the final session. Get your actual order from your advisor, then set your dates from that plan rather than from a marketing figure. How USU's sessions fall across the year is on the course calendar.
What the 100 hours involve
The catalog describes 100 leadership residency hours spent in collaboration with a nurse leader preceptor, completed in one 8-week course. That averages 12 to 13 hours a week. USU's practicum handbook schedules check-ins in weeks 1, 4 and 8, and Project Concert holds your hours and evaluations.
The handbook's test for the site is short: your preceptor must be employed in a healthcare leader role in a healthcare setting. Unlike the Nurse Educator and RN-to-BSN rules, it gives no list of example sites, which leaves you room to choose. A preceptor whose role touches what you study, such as quality and safety, strategic planning or project management, gives the residency something concrete to work on.
Your first hours have to fall in week one of the course, and any hours still missing when it ends are forfeited and redone the next term. The course-level detail, including the week-by-week rhythm, is on the MSN587 leadership residency page.
Choosing your nurse leader
Three tests apply to the leader. First, a graduate degree: an MSN, MHA or MBA qualifies, and a PhD, DNP, EdD or DNS is preferred. Second, a year or more of leadership experience, in healthcare, healthcare technology or another qualifying field. Third, a year or more as a registered nurse, with a current, unencumbered RN license in the state where they practice.
That last point narrows the field. A hospital administrator with an MBA and a long leadership record doesn't qualify unless they are also a registered nurse. A nurse manager with an MSN, a year in the role and an active RN license does.
USU sets a one-to-one ratio, so your preceptor takes only you. They can't be your spouse, partner, first-degree relative or direct supervisor. Work you're already employed to do won't count either: USU's site rules exclude hours that belong to your current job or work role. If you work in a large organization, ask your CPC early whether another department, under a leader outside your chain, could host you; see clinicals at your employer.
An MBA or MHA qualifies only when the leader is also an RN with at least a year of nursing experience.
Deadlines, and one gap in USU's documents
The catalog's field experience policy covers every clinical course, so for MSN587 you owe OFE at least three qualified preceptors, with valid contact details, 6 months before it starts. Use the Appendix G interest form, then ask the leader you settle on to complete Appendix H, the Preceptor Information and Acknowledgement Form. If their organization has no agreement with USU, OFE sends one and handles it with the site.
The 16-week rule is the gap. USU's practicum handbook sets that paperwork deadline for MSN578 and NUR378 by name; in the passage we found, MSN587 isn't mentioned. Plan as if 16 weeks applies, because a new site agreement alone can take months, and ask your CPC to confirm the date for your session. The general sequence is on USU's clinical deadlines.
States and licenses
Four places are closed to this MSN outright: Maryland, DC and the two Pacific territories, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Washington depends on which USU document you read. The Board of Nursing disclosure enrolls only FNP students there, but the state authorization disclosure doesn't rule out the non-FNP MSN. Get a written answer from admissions before counting on it.
New York residents can take this MSN, and Health Care Leadership is among the programs USU's Idaho and Utah approvals cover. Your residency state matters too: you need a current RN license there, and so does your leader where they practice. USU would rather you stay in your state of residence; clinicals outside your state explains the exceptions.
Why Health Care Leadership students choose us
Everything in this residency turns on finding the right nurse leader: someone with the right degree, outside your reporting line, who will give you 100 hours.
Students come to us when their organization's leaders all sit in their chain of command, when the leaders you know hold an MBA but no RN license, or when the 6-month date has arrived without a yes. The placement desk looks for nurse leaders in healthcare organizations near you, checks their degree, RN license and leadership experience against USU's rules before you list them, and helps you gather what goes to OFE.
Every approval, of preceptor, site and agreement, is USU's decision, and each leader we put forward has already been checked against USU's list. Share your residency session in the form below.
Questions USU students ask
Does USU's Health Care Leadership MSN involve patient care hours?
Its only practicum is MSN587, which the catalog describes as 100 leadership residency hours with a nurse leader preceptor, and we found no direct-care minimum for it. The track also leaves out advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology and assessment. If you want precepted patient care at the advanced practice level, USU's MSN FNP is the track built around it.
Can I still apply to USU's MSN in Administration and Management?
No. The 2026-2027 catalog lists Administration & Management, along with Informatics, Forensic Nursing and Public Health, as not accepting applicants. Health Care Leadership is the leadership concentration USU is admitting to. Its practicum is 100 hours in one course, where the closed Administration track had 140 hours across two practicums.
Can I finish USU's Health Care Leadership MSN in a year?
USU's degree page offers an accelerated option that finishes in as little as 12 months, and the catalog's range also starts at 12. At that pace the residency arrives near the end of your first year, so your three preceptor leads are due only a few months after you begin. Confirm with your advisor that the accelerated plan is open to you before relying on it.
Is there a post-master's certificate in Health Care Leadership at USU?
USU's 2024-2025 catalog listed one: 16 credits made up of MSN580, MSN581, MSN582, MSN584, MSN586 and MSN587, online, with 100 clock hours. The 2026-2027 catalog lists no post-master's certificates, so ask USU admissions whether it is still offered before planning around it.
Can I take USU's Health Care Leadership MSN from Washington State?
Probably not at present, but USU's documents disagree. Its Board of Nursing disclosure says USU enrolls only MSN FNP students in Washington, while its state authorization list does not exclude the non-FNP MSN there. Ask USU admissions to confirm in writing before you apply, and don't rely on either list alone.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against USU's own catalog, handbooks and disclosures. USU's current handbook and your Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
- USU General Catalog 2026-2027: Master of Science in Nursing
- USU catalog: MSN587 Residency in Nursing Leadership and Systems Management
- USU practicum handbook: clinical practicum hour requirements
- USU degree page: MSN Health Care Leadership
- USU State/Territory Boards of Nursing Program Approvals (updated 5.19.2026)
Six months out is USU's rule. We start now.
Tell us your USU program, your state and when your next practicum opens. We look for preceptors who meet USU's rules and help you build the packet the Office of Field Experience and Program Director review.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice, pediatrics, women's health, urgent care within USU's caps
- Appendix H, license, CV and board certification gathered the way OFE asks
- In person near you; telehealth only inside USU's 40-hour limit
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what a USU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.