Maryville PNP practicums: NURS 655C, 652 and 654

The PNP practicum courses

The PNP concentration is 18 credits within a 47-credit MSN: three pediatric didactic courses, each paired with a practicum. The descriptions set the population and setting for each practicum but give no hours.

The well-child wording for NURS 655C comes from Maryville's online MSN curriculum; the rest comes from the 2026-27 catalog course records.

Where NURS 655C came from, and the catalog's gaps

NURS 655C is the newest of the three. The catalog lists NURS 650, NURS 651 and NURS 653 for the PNP concentration and notes that anyone starting in Spring 2024 or later also takes NURS 655C. It exists only as a C number, and the 2026-27 active course list shows the other two practicums only as NURS 652C and NURS 654C.

The catalog's MSN program listing leaves out NURS 652 and NURS 654 altogether, though both appear in Maryville's online curriculum and as catalog course records. The DNP-NP listing does the same, showing 15 PNP credits plus NURS 655C. If you're comparing the catalog with your program plan, that gap explains why two practicums seem to be missing.

PNP also had the highest total under the older curriculum: a 2023 Maryville webinar gave it 850 hours over three semesters, more than today's 750. Students admitted in Fall 2023 or earlier stay on that plan unless they ask the Office of Academic Records to move them. See clinical hours by track for the comparison.

Prerequisites and the first pediatric placement

NURS 650 requires NURS 611 and NURS 615, and the catalog says NURS 612 may be taken with it. NURS 655C, which runs alongside NURS 650, lists NURS 612 as a prerequisite. Read together, that suggests finishing NURS 612 before the term you take NURS 650 and NURS 655C; ask your advisor to confirm the order in your plan. NURS 652 then requires NURS 650 and runs with NURS 651. The three core courses page covers the shared prerequisites.

Entry points need checking too. Maryville's older PNP landing page mentions only three starts a year (January, May, August); the current MSN pages show six 2026 start dates across all programs. Your Exxat login arrives some three to four months before the first clinical term, and the clinical timeline shows how the steps line up.

The pediatric site and preceptor PNP calls for

Every PNP practicum belongs in pediatric primary care. The catalog places NURS 652 and NURS 654 in pediatric primary care practice settings, Maryville's curriculum centers NURS 655C on the preventive well-child visit, and a 2023 webinar grouped pediatrics with FNP and AGPCNP as primary or preventive care with nothing hospitalist.

Maryville's published rule names a credential, not a specialty: board certification as an APRN, MD or DO, a license in good standing in their state and at least one year in practice. For PNP, that points to pediatricians and nurse practitioners working in pediatric practices. Maryville hasn't published population splits for PNP hours, such as infants versus adolescents, so the syllabus is where to check the mix each course expects.

The titles suggest a shift from prevention in NURS 655C to assessment and diagnosis in NURS 652 and NURS 654, so ask a prospective site about both its well-child schedule and its sick visits. One practice may suit one course better than another. Preceptor requirements lists who is excluded.

Compliance and approvals before the first well-child visit

Maryville's catalog lists what must be in place before any required clinical, and the list is long.

Compliance items Maryville lists

• A physical exam
• MMR, Tdap, polio, varicella and hepatitis B (or a signed declination), plus an annual flu shot
• A 2-step TB test, then annual testing
• A health insurance card
• American Heart Association BLS for the Health Care Provider
• A urine drug screen from Maryville's authorized lab and a criminal background check through its authorized agency

Some sites may also require COVID vaccination. These items live in Exxat Compliance, the first of four approvals; the others being the approved site and preceptor request, the practice's own clearance and course faculty sign-off. A private pediatric office that has never hosted a Maryville student will also need the MOU signed, or its own affiliation contract in place. The compliance overview has the details.

Why PNP students hand us all three practicums

Three terms of pediatric primary care is a lot to ask of one practice, so we plan your PNP sequence as a whole from the first call. A placement advisor searches near you for pediatricians and pediatric NPs who meet Maryville's published rules, works out which practice suits the well-child visits of NURS 655C and which suits the two diagnosis practicums, and gathers the preceptor's resume, license and certification verification along with the practice details Maryville's approvers look at.

Already have a practice for the well-child course? Then we put the whole effort into NURS 652 and NURS 654. If a preceptor steps back mid-term, we are on call to find another pediatric office. Maryville signs off on every preceptor, site, agreement and start date, and each placement we line up is prepared for that sign-off before it goes in. Send your start term, area and next practicum through the form below.