NURS 5363 and NURS 5365: UT Tyler's diagnosis and psychotherapy clinical courses
UT Tyler's catalog counts NURS 5363 Differential Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Across the Lifespan and NURS 5365 Psychotherapeutic Theories and Modalities among the six PMHNP clinical courses, yet no public document prints their clinical hours. Your syllabus and course faculty hold those numbers. The psychotherapy course also opens precepting to licensed therapists, which changes how you search.
Find a therapy preceptor in Texas
Name your course and city, and your placement advisor looks for Texas-licensed therapists who fit what your faculty accept.
What the catalog says about these two courses
UT Tyler's 2026-27 catalog gives the MSN PMHNP 49 credits and 750 hours of direct patient care, and names six clinical courses behind that total. The post-master's certificate carries the same specialty courses and hours in 34 credits. Two of the six, the diagnosis and psychotherapy courses, come without an hour count anywhere UT Tyler publishes.
| Course | Title | Credits | Published clinical hours |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 5363 | Differential Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Across the Lifespan | 3 | Listed as clinical; no figure published |
NURS 5365 | Psychotherapeutic Theories and Modalities | 3 | Listed as clinical; no figure published |
NURS 5367 | PMHNP Practicum I | 3 | 125 |
NURS 5368 | Integrated Mental Health Care I (Adult/Gerontology) | 3 | 125 |
NURS 5370 | PMHNP Practicum II | 3 | 125 |
NURS 5373 | Integrated Mental Health Care II Capstone | 3 | 125 (135 in the 2023 preceptor guide) |
Credits follow UT Tyler's numbering rule, where the second digit gives the credit value. The four practicums add up to 500 hours, so by our own arithmetic 250 of the 750 are not tied to a course in any public source. Dividing them between NURS 5363 and NURS 5365 looks logical, but UT Tyler has not published that split, so treat it as a question for faculty rather than a plan.
Where they fall in your plan of study
In the catalog's part-time PMHNP plan, published with the BSN to DNP PMHNP pathway, both courses share the fourth semester. Neurobiology (NURS 5357) and psychopharmacology (NURS 5359) come the semester before, and the NURS 5367 and NURS 5368 practicum pair follows straight after.
That timing matters more than it first appears. While you work through diagnosis and psychotherapy, you also need approved preceptors for the adult practicum pair, because policy 7.2 wants every site and preceptor approved before the semester starts. In practice the fourth semester is when two searches overlap: one for the therapy hours now, one for the PMHNP practicums next.
UT Tyler offers two-year and three-year PMHNP formats, so your semester numbers may differ from the catalog outline. Follow the degree plan signed with your advisor during your first semester.
Finding your hour count and course rules
Because the public record stops at the word clinical, the numbers that govern your semester come from documents you see once enrolled. Ask for three answers in writing before the term: how many hours each course needs, whether they must be direct patient care, and which license types may precept.
Where each answer lives
- Your course syllabus and the Canvas course site, which set hours, logging and preceptor rules for your term
- Your course faculty, who approve every site and preceptor
- Your PMHNP program coordinator, for how the two courses fit your plan of study
- The Clinical Coordinator, for site clearance, the Preceptor Agreement and Exxat
Even printed hours disagree between documents: the 2023 preceptor guide gives NURS 5373 135 hours while the current catalog gives 125. Rely on the syllabus for the term you are actually enrolled in.
Who can precept the psychotherapy hours
The NURS 5365 syllabus lets licensed therapists precept: licensed professional counselors (LPC), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), licensed master social workers (LMSW), psychologists with a PhD or PsyD, and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT). That reaches well beyond psychiatric prescribers.
The program page reads differently. Its note says every clinical practicum course takes place at a Texas-licensed facility under a Texas-licensed PMHNP, MD, DO or PA with a CAQ, a list with no therapists on it. The two fit if the note is read as covering the named practicums, but UT Tyler does not say so, so confirm with your course faculty that a therapist is acceptable for your section before you approach one.
Texas rules make room for this kind of preceptor. Under 22 TAC §219.10, a program may use any currently licensed health professional able to teach and oversee students in a setting appropriate to APRN education, not only APRNs. Texas Board of Nursing rules explains the framework.
The diagnosis course and its preceptor
For NURS 5363, UT Tyler publishes nothing beyond its clinical status. If your syllabus calls for a preceptor, the school's standing PMHNP rules give the default: the NP preceptor guide places PMHNP students in a psychiatric specialty practice, and the practicum syllabi name PMHNPs, psychiatrists and PAs with a psychiatry CAQ as primary preceptors.
Ask faculty whether the therapist list in NURS 5365 extends to the diagnosis course. If it does not, you are looking for a psychiatric prescriber in the same semester, possibly someone you also want for a later practicum. The practicum syllabi limit any one preceptor to two clinical rotations in the program, so find out whether these two courses count toward that limit. Getting that answer early keeps your strongest adult preceptor available for the practicum pair.
Rules that follow every PMHNP clinical hour
Some rules are program-wide, whatever the course. Others appear in the practicum syllabi, and your NURS 5363 or NURS 5365 syllabus will say whether it repeats them. Plan as if it does.
- Texas only: UT Tyler's graduate page makes Texas residence and Texas clinical hours a condition for APRN students, backed by an unencumbered Texas or compact RN license. A therapist across the state line does not qualify.
- Approval first: policy 7.2 wants each site and preceptor approved before the semester starts, and the practicum syllabi say hours logged ahead of approval will not count.
- Conflicts of interest: the practicum syllabi rule out relatives, employers and direct supervisors as preceptors.
- Telehealth: the preceptor guide requires telehealth teaching to happen onsite with your preceptor supervising, and the practicum syllabi set a 63-hour ceiling for each course.
- Logging: record hours in Exxat on the schedule your syllabus sets.
Each rule has more detail on Texas-only clinicals and preceptor requirements.
The mistake to avoid: reading no published hours as no preceptor needed. Both courses are clinical in the catalog, and time with a therapist who was not approved before the semester will not count.
How we set up your therapy and diagnosis hours
- Start from your syllabusWe work from your course's own rules: the hours, any direct care requirement and the license types your faculty accept.
- Find licensed therapists near you in TexasLPCs, LCSWs, LMSWs, psychologists and LMFTs with an active Texas license, a caseload that fits the course and time to supervise and teach.
- Look ahead to the practicumsWe line up the
NURS 5367andNURS 5368preceptors in the same search, so no one is used twice by accident and the next semester is ready. - Deliver the request detailsYou get each preceptor's license, practice and contact details for the Self-Placement Request, in time for faculty approval and the Preceptor Agreement.
Start on the placement form with your term and your city.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
Does NURS 5365 at UT Tyler need a psychiatric nurse practitioner as preceptor?
Not according to its syllabus, which lists LPCs, LCSWs, LMSWs, psychologists with a PhD or PsyD, and LMFTs as possible preceptors. The PMHNP program page's Texas-licensed practitioner list names only prescribers, so confirm with course faculty which license types they accept for your section before you ask a therapist to commit.
Can an out-of-state therapist precept my UT Tyler psychotherapy hours?
No. APRN students at UT Tyler must be Texas residents who log every clinical hour inside the state, and the PMHNP syllabi add that the preceptor and the patients must be in Texas too. A therapist licensed and practicing in another state, including one who works by video, falls outside that rule. Look for a Texas-licensed therapist near where you live.
Do the NURS 5363 and NURS 5365 hours count toward the 750-hour PMHNP total?
The catalog names both among the six clinical courses behind the 750 direct patient care hours, which points that way, but it prints no per-course figure for either. The four practicums account for 500 hours at 125 each. Ask your course faculty how many hours each course carries and how they are logged in Exxat.
What if I cannot find a therapist willing to precept NURS 5365?
Tell your course faculty early, as the PMHNP syllabi ask for any placement problem, and keep searching in parallel. Therapists in group practices and community settings are worth asking, provided they hold a Texas license on your faculty's accepted list. Your placement advisor can run that search and bring back therapists ready to confirm.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.