Keiser's MSN Women's Health Nurse Practitioner: clinicals, hours and placement
Keiser's MSN Women's Health Nurse Practitioner is a 51-credit online program with four clinical courses near the end and three on-campus intensive weekends. Keiser prints two hour totals, 710 in the catalog requirement and 680 in the course lines. Your preceptor and site must be approved, and you cleared, before you can register for each clinical pair.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Keiser program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Keiser course.
The WHNP program at a glance
The WHNP starts on the same MSN core as Keiser's other master's tracks and turns to women's health in its second half. The catalog and the program page match on credits and course count but not on length, hours or a few course details, so each row below names its source.
The catalog lists the WHNP as online only, offered through a list of Florida campuses and the Graduate School's online division, and the program page adds Lakeland to that list. Wherever you enroll, the clinicals happen in person at approved sites and the three weekends happen on campus.
| Item | Keiser's figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Credits and courses | 51 credits, 19 courses | Catalog and program page |
| Length | About 30 months; 20 to 30 months | Catalog; program page |
| Course format | 8-week courses, most of them asynchronous | Catalog |
| On-campus time | Three intensive weekends, attendance graded | Catalog |
| Precepted hours | 710 required; 680 across the four course lines | Catalog (the 2023 policy manual also says 680) |
| Certification | NCC (WHNP-BC) | Program page |
| Time limit | Degree completed within five years | Catalog |
The course path to your first clinical
Clinical work arrives late in the WHNP. The catalog places it toward the end of the program, after the MSN core: NUR501, NUR502, NUR520, NUR540, NUR650, NUR661, NUR671 and NUR680, all of which are prerequisites for the first clinical, NUR612A. NUR671, the advanced health assessment course, also carries the first intensive weekend.
The outline then lists two women's health courses, NUR610 on the roles and contexts of the WHNP and NUR611 on advanced reproductive health, followed by four paired terms in which a didactic course runs alongside its clinical. NUR616, the certification review for the NCC exam, is the last course.
Two small mismatches are worth knowing. The program page's course list leaves out NUR650 and NUR540, and it titles the second pair Prenatal Care where the catalog says Perinatal Care. Plan from the catalog outline, which is the one your degree audit follows.
Four clinical courses and their hours
The WHNP clinicals grow as you go, from 130 hours in each of the first two to 260 in the synthesis course. Settings, pacing and preceptor fit for each are in the WHNP clinical courses guide.
| Clinical | Focus (catalog title) | Hours | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
NUR612A | WHNP I: primary care in adolescents and adults | 130 | 1 |
NUR613A | WHNP II: perinatal care | 130 | 1 |
NUR614A | WHNP III: women's health care across the lifespan | 160 | 2 in the outline, 1 in the description |
NUR615A | WHNP IV: women's health synthesis | 260 | 2 in the outline, 1 in the description |
Inside an 8-week course, 260 hours comes to roughly 32 or 33 hours a week by our arithmetic on Keiser's figures, about double the weekly load of a 120-hour FNP practicum. NUR615A is the term to plan hardest for, especially if you work full time, and it needs a preceptor with room for you on most clinic days.
710 or 680: settling the WHNP hours
The catalog's degree requirements call for 710 precepted clinical hours, yet its own four course descriptions add to 680, and Keiser's 2023 policy manual for graduate nursing agrees on 680. Keiser has not published where the other 30 hours would come from.
Because the 2026-27 catalog governs, plan as if 710 applies until course faculty or the Clinical Coordinator confirm the figure for your cohort, and ask them early which number your final audit will check. The clinical hours guide sets the WHNP figures beside the FNP ones.
Keiser's graduate rules on what counts apply to WHNP hours too. Direct patient care is the core, telehealth can make up no more than a quarter of it, encounters are documented within 7 days, and your preceptor evaluates you at week 4 and week 8 of each clinical.
Placement and clearance before registration
The WHNP has a step the FNP course descriptions lack. Every clinical pair in the catalog carries a note that preceptor and site approval must come before registration, and the Clinical Coordinator has to clear you in advance for both the didactic and the clinical course. Your placement has to be finished a full step before the term starts: approved preceptor, approved site, clearance, then registration.
Keiser describes who arranges WHNP sites in three different ways. The 2026-27 catalog offers help with a site when clinicals are in South Florida and expects students elsewhere to select a suitable site themselves. The 2023 policy manual says the program will have enough sites and that its administrators decide assignments, and the program page says students work with the program team on placement.
The catalog governs, so outside South Florida the search is likely yours; confirm your region's arrangement with the Clinical Coordinator. The South Florida placement guide explains how the two routes work. The catalog also mentions an opportunity for international clinical practice, which is worth raising with the program directly.
WHNP registration waits on approval, so a site still negotiating its agreement when registration opens can hold up the didactic course as well as the clinical.
Intensive weekends and license rules
Three courses bring you to campus: NUR671, NUR612 and NUR614 each include an intensive weekend, attendance is required, and it counts toward the course grade. Two of those weekends fall in clinical terms, alongside NUR612A and NUR614A, so mark them before you and your preceptor build the schedule.
Admission tracks the FNP's: an active unrestricted Florida RN license, a license in your clinical state if that is outside Florida, a year of recent clinical practice, and written verification from out-of-state applicants that their home state allows the rotations and NP licensure afterward. Keiser's November 2025 WHNP disclosure lists the same states as the FNP disclosure under does not meet, and adds Maryland. The licensure disclosures guide has both lists.
To graduate you need a 3.0 GPA, no more than one C, the required hours, all three residencies, and completion within five years. The catalog prints no course-level B rule for the WHNP like the one that governs FNP clinical courses.
Why WHNP students choose us
Women's health placements are specialized: OB-GYN practices, perinatal settings and women's health clinics, plus a 260-hour synthesis course that needs a preceptor with real capacity. Your placement advisor searches for sites that fit each WHNP clinical where you live, starting about three months ahead so approval and clearance are done before registration opens.
Your advisor puts together the preceptor's CV or resume, license and certification details, the site's agreement contact and your clinical schedule, which is the file the Clinical Coordinator works from before clearing you. Keiser holds the approval of every site and preceptor; we see to it that the file arrives whole and in line with Keiser's rules, and we line up a replacement if a preceptor steps away. Start with how it works or the form below.
Questions Keiser students ask
How long is Keiser's WHNP program?
The 2026-27 Graduate Catalog says about 30 months, and the program page gives a range of 20 to 30 months. Courses run 8 weeks each and most are asynchronous, with the four clinical pairs grouped near the end. However you pace it, the catalog requires the degree to be finished within five years.
Who can precept a Keiser WHNP student?
Keiser publishes no WHNP-specific preceptor list. Its older graduate clinical manual sets general qualifications for all tracks: at least a year in the role, authorization to practice as an advanced practice nurse or a current health care license, an unencumbered license, certification where appropriate, and preferably a graduate degree. Confirm a women's health preceptor with the Clinical Coordinator before clearance. The preceptor requirements guide covers the FNP rules.
Can I do WHNP clinicals outside Florida?
The catalog allows it with conditions. You need an active license in the state where you do clinicals as well as your Florida RN license, plus written verification that your home state allows the rotations and later NP licensure. Check that Keiser's WHNP disclosure lists your state as meeting requirements, and expect to select your own site, since the catalog's placement help covers South Florida.
Which certification exam does Keiser's WHNP prepare for?
The program page points WHNP graduates to the NCC's WHNP-BC certification. The last course in the catalog outline, NUR616, is the WHNP certification review, and it follows the fourth clinical pair, so the review lands right after your heaviest clinical term.
Is the WHNP the same as the FNP's women's health practicum?
No. The FNP's NUR605A is a 60-hour women's health practicum inside a family program. The WHNP is a separate MSN with its own 51-credit curriculum, four women's health clinicals totaling 680 or 710 hours, three intensive weekends and a different certification exam.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Keiser's catalogs, graduate nursing manuals, licensure disclosures and program pages. Your course, the Clinical Coordinator and the 2026-27 Graduate Catalog have the final word.
Keiser asks you to find your own preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Keiser program, your next practicum and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and site details your Preceptor/Mentor Information Form needs, about three months ahead.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for
NUR602AandNUR603A, pediatrics forNUR604A, women's health forNUR605A - CV, license, certification and site contact ready for Keiser's review and the affiliation agreement
- Across Florida, from Miami to Jacksonville, and in the other states where you are licensed
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