DNP 8796: where your JSU residency takes shape
DNP 8796, Project Planning and Development, is the three-credit course that opens JSU's DNP block for BSN-DNP and Post-Master's students alike. It lists no clinical hours of its own, yet JSU's DNP timeline sets both the residency match and the contract submission inside its window, so what you decide here carries through all three residencies.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your JSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your JSU course.
Where DNP 8796 sits in your plan
The catalog offers DNP 8796 in summer or fall. Which one you take depends on your program and start term, and in every plan it sits one semester before the first residency, DNP 8797.
| Plan of study | DNP 8796 term | Residency I follows in |
|---|---|---|
| BSN-DNP, FNP or AGACNP (fall or spring start) | Summer of Year 3, right after Practicum IV | The next fall |
| Post-Master's DNP, fall start | Summer of Year 1, the third semester | Fall of Year 2 |
| Post-Master's DNP, spring start | Fall of Year 1, the third semester | Spring of Year 2 |
On the calendar (our mapping, not JSU's), Post-Master's entrants from Fall 2026 take DNP 8796 in Summer 2027 and begins residency hours in Fall 2027. A Spring 2027 entrant takes it in Fall 2027 and starts DNP 8797 in Spring 2028. BSN-DNP students who enter in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 reach it in Summer 2029, once the MSN portion is done. Most plans pair it with NU 8016, Interprofessional Health Care and Informatics.
What JSU's timeline puts in this course
JSU's DNP Student Clinical Timeline, written for preceptors, places two events in the DNP 8796 window: late May is when each student gets a preceptor and a clinical site, and it is also when contracts are filed. The timeline uses the passive voice and does not say who makes the match.
It also describes two start patterns. The May start is the most common; a smaller cohort begins in August, which lines up with the fall offering of DNP 8796 and with the Post-Master's spring-start plan (our reading). From that point JSU wants the same preceptor and the same site for 16 months, through all three residencies.
Everything about the pairing itself, including the August track and what the 16-month commitment asks of a site, is covered in the DNP residency pairing guide. This page stays with the course and what to settle while you are in it.
What a residency site has to be ready for
The site you settle on during DNP 8796 will host a quality improvement project for over a year, so it has to support more than clinical hours. JSU's timeline sketches that year: an assigned faculty member, IRB training and the proposal in the early fall, IRB submissions around mid-fall, a January launch lasting eight to ten weeks, and on-site results in July ahead of Dissemination Day on campus.
Questions we put to a site before you commit
- Can the preceptor stay with you from late May, or August, through the following July?
- Is there a practice problem the site's leaders want studied, so the project has backing?
- Can the preceptor meet with you four times a semester and offer suggestions for the Executive Summary?
- Does the site have its own review step for projects, and how long does it take?
- Will the site host the July results session and let staff attend Dissemination Day?
A site that answers yes to all five can carry you through the three residency courses without a mid-project change, which is exactly what JSU's 16-month rule is built to protect.
Contract paperwork and clearance
JSU's timeline says only that contract paperwork is submitted at the pairing. Who signs, what the contract covers and how much lead time the School of Nursing needs are not published, so raise those points with the DNP clinical coordinator in the first weeks of the course. The preceptor and site approval guide covers what JSU publishes about clearing a preceptor and site.
The graduate handbook fixes one sequence: malpractice coverage purchased through JSU has to show as approved in the tracker before you reach out to any residency site. Your CastleBranch items need to be current too, since missing documents can block registration for the next course. The malpractice guide explains that step.
Malpractice approval comes before the first call to a residency site, so start that step at the beginning of DNP 8796, not in late May.
Retakes, prefixes and old numbers
The catalog warns that DNP 8796 may have to be repeated, though it leaves the course's grading method unstated. Because Residency I follows directly, a retake would move the residency sequence back; your DNP program coordinator sets the new plan. It would also ask your preceptor and site to wait, so tell them early if the course is going badly.
The course also goes by several labels. The fall FNP plan of study prints the block as FNP 8796 to 8799 and the fall AGACNP plan prints ANP 8796 to 8799, while the spring plans and the catalog use the DNP prefix. The Post-Master's web page still shows DNP 796 to 799, and the 2024-25 handbook uses the older three-digit numbers. All of them point to one course, listed in the catalog as DNP 8796.
How we prepare you for DNP 8796
However your pairing comes about at JSU, we find a preceptor and site that meet JSU's rules and can commit for the full 16 months. We start before the course does, so that by late May the preceptor's credentials and the site's contract information are already assembled for JSU's faculty.
We look for sites with a real improvement need and a preceptor who welcomes a doctoral project, close to where you live and work. JSU's faculty approve the pairing and the project, and we send them a match with nothing missing. If a preceptor has to step away during the residencies, we stay on call and look for a replacement who can pick up the project. Your start term is all we need to begin; add it in the form below.
Questions JSU students ask
Does DNP 8796 count toward JSU residency hours?
No hours are listed for DNP 8796 in the 2026-27 catalog. The 630 residency hours sit in the next three courses, 210 in each of DNP 8797, DNP 8798 and DNP 8799. The DNP residency hours guide explains how those hours run across fall, spring and summer.
Can I take DNP 8796 in the fall instead of the summer?
The catalog lists the course as offered in summer or fall, and JSU's timeline mentions a smaller cohort that starts in August. The BSN-DNP plans place it in summer, while the Post-Master's spring-start plan places it in fall. Moving between them changes your plan of study, so ask your program coordinator before you register.
Is FNP 8796 the same course as DNP 8796?
Yes. The fall-admission FNP plan of study labels the doctoral block FNP 8796 to 8799, and the AGACNP version uses ANP, but the 2026-27 catalog lists one set of courses under the DNP prefix for every track. The catalog's number is the one to register under and the one a residency site will recognize.
What do JSU DNP preceptors do during the project?
JSU's timeline for preceptors lists recurring meetings with the student every semester as the project is designed and then run, suggested content for the Executive Summary, and a July session at the site where the results are presented. JSU invites project facility staff to its Dissemination Day on campus as well.
Do Post-Master's students with under 500 MSN hours take anything before DNP 8796?
JSU admits them conditionally and adds the Advanced Experiential Clinical Course, NU 5841, sized to each student's shortfall. The published plans of study do not show where it falls, so confirm its timing with the DNP program coordinator. The NU 5841 guide covers the course.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against JSU's 2026-27 catalog, nursing handbooks, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether JSU helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your JSU program, your next practicum or residency and the town you train near. We find preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather what JSU's faculty need to clear them, early enough for the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan, adult-gerontology acute care, DNP residencies
- License, certification and site details ready for JSU's clearance, with your CastleBranch and malpractice items in order
- Across Alabama and in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee
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