Post's MSN in Informatics or Infection Prevention, plus the IPC certificate
Post University's MSN in Nursing Informatics and its MSN in Infection Prevention and Control are 36 credits apiece, and the 2025-26 catalog gives each 400 practice hours. The Graduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Control shares three of the IPC track's practice courses in 15 credits. Precepted work in all three goes to a nurse with at least a master's who is licensed as an RN and employed where you do the hours, a bar some specialists in both fields do not clear without Post's exception form.
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Three programs at a glance
All three are delivered online by the American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Post University. The certificate is Post's only graduate certificate in nursing, and its post.edu page describes "Individualized Learning Experiences" rather than an hour count.
| Program | Credits | Practice hours | Entry | Courses on the preceptor list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSN Nursing Informatics | 36 | 400 | BSN or MSN with a 3.0 GPA and an RN license; see the work rule below | N 508PE, N 527PE, N 535PE, N 555PE |
| MSN Infection Prevention and Control | 36 | 400 | BSN with a 3.0 GPA and an RN license | N 570PE, N 571PE, N 572PE, N 555PE |
| Graduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Control | 15 (5 courses) | No total printed | Bachelor's in a healthcare field with a 3.0 GPA; no RN license | N 570PE, N 571PE, N 572PE |
Each MSN is offered in the one-course-per-term 8-week format and in SIMPath, whose semesters last 16 weeks; both open to new students monthly. Post markets each MSN at 16 to 24 months, and the catalog allows up to five years, or six with an approved petition. The certificate also starts monthly and takes no transfer credit.
Nursing Informatics: courses and the work-experience rule
Informatics shares N 508PE Clinical and Administrative Systems with the leadership and case management tracks, then moves on to N 535PE Healthcare Informatics, which requires N 508PE. Both carried 45 practice hours in their 2021-22 descriptions. N 527PE sits on the 2025-26 preceptor list, but its description was not among those we could read, so its hours are unconfirmed. The track closes with the 130-hour N 555PE capstone.
Post's admissions page states: "Informatics Specialization requires a minimum one-year full-time work experience in an informatics nursing role during the last 5 years." The table prints it under the DNP row and does not say whether the MSN track is bound by it as well, so if you are applying to the MSN without informatics experience, ask admissions first.
A good preceptor here is a master's-prepared informatics nurse on a clinical informatics, EHR or analytics team at a healthcare site.
Infection Prevention and Control: courses
The IPC track's precepted work runs through three courses and the capstone. N 570PE Infection Prevention and Control, which requires BIO 501, carried 45 hours in its 2021-22 description. N 571PE Design of Surveillance System carried 45 in its competency-based version, after N 570PE and EPI 500. N 572PE is on the preceptor list with hours we could not confirm, and N 555PE closes the MSN at 130.
Most of this work lives in a hospital or health system's infection prevention department, where surveillance, outbreak response and policy happen. Long-term care, ambulatory surgery and other settings may suit individual courses, so confirm with the Practicum Coordinator that a setting counts as a healthcare site for the course in question before anyone agrees to precept.
The order of the precepted courses
Both tracks build in a chain, which makes the order of your preceptor searches predictable. In Informatics, N 508PE unlocks N 535PE; in Infection Prevention, N 570PE leads into N 571PE. The capstone waits in either track until the core and specialization courses are behind you.
A chain rewards staying put. An infection prevention department that hosted you for N 570PE already knows your work when surveillance design arrives in N 571PE, and an informatics team that precepted N 508PE is a natural home for N 535PE, provided Post approves the same preceptor again. In weekly terms, a 45-hour course asks for five to six hours across an 8-week term, the capstone's 130 hours ask for about 16, and a course stretched across a full 16-week SIMPath semester spreads the load over twice the weeks, by our arithmetic.
The IPC graduate certificate
The certificate takes the three IPC practice courses, N 570PE, N 571PE and N 572PE, inside five courses and 15 credits. It admits applicants with a bachelor's in a healthcare field and a 3.0 GPA and asks for no RN license, which sets it apart from every other Post nursing program.
That opening leaves questions Post's published rules do not settle: whether a certificate student's preceptor must meet the same master's-and-RN standard as an MSN student's, and whether certificate students need a CastleBranch account like MSN students. Ask the Practicum Coordinator before your first IPC course. The courses themselves sit on the preceptor list, so plan on needing a preceptor either way.
When the right expert is not an RN
Three things qualify a preceptor for an MSN student at Post: a master's or a higher degree, an RN license in good standing in the state of practice, and employment by the site. In informatics and infection prevention, the license is the piece strong candidates can lack: infection preventionists come from microbiology, epidemiology and laboratory science as well as nursing, and informatics teams include analysts and engineers.
Post's route around the gap is the Exception to Preceptor Requirements form, a petition for an alternate preceptor. Use it when the best person at your site has the expertise and the degree but not the license, and file it early so that a decline still leaves time to find a nurse. The usual exclusions hold regardless: no direct supervisor, no relative, no classmate. Our practice experiences guide and the page on who cannot precept you cover the rules in full.
An infection preventionist with an MPH but no RN license sits outside Post's standard rule: petition for them, or look for a nurse with a master's in the same department.
Why informatics and IPC students choose our desk
Informatics and infection prevention teams are small, so a cold search for a master's-prepared nurse willing to take a student can stall for weeks. Our placement desk takes that search off your hands.
We look for master's-prepared RNs in informatics and infection prevention departments near you and check them against Post's degree and license rule before you submit anything. When the ideal person is not an RN, we help you build the case for the exception form while keeping a nurse candidate in reserve. We request the affiliation agreement as soon as a site requires one, as our affiliation agreement guide describes, and we plan your precepted courses and capstone together.
See how it works, then name your next precepted course in the form below.
Questions Post students ask
Does Post's MSN Informatics require informatics work experience?
Possibly. Post's admissions page asks for one year of full-time work in an informatics nursing role within the last five years for the "Informatics Specialization", but prints the rule under its DNP row. Whether it binds the MSN, the DNP Informatics Leadership track or both is unclear, so ask admissions before you apply.
Do I need an RN license for Post's infection prevention certificate?
No. Post's admissions page asks certificate applicants for a bachelor's in a healthcare field with a 3.0 GPA and does not require an RN license. The certificate's three practice courses are on Post's preceptor list, so confirm with the Practicum Coordinator what the preceptor and compliance steps look like for you.
Can a non-nurse infection preventionist precept me?
Only with an exception. Post's usual rule wants an RN license and a master's or higher, so a non-nurse needs Post's exception petition approved first. Build in time: file it early, and keep a master's-prepared nurse at the same site as your second option.
How many practice hours are in Post's informatics MSN?
The Nursing Informatics specialization carries 400 practice hours in Post's 2025-26 catalog, the same as every non-NP MSN track. Not all of them are precepted, since practice learning experiences and simulation count too. The courses that need a preceptor are N 508PE, N 527PE, N 535PE and N 555PE.
Is there a Post DNP in informatics?
Yes, the DNP Informatics Leadership track. It accepts a nursing master's or, through a bridge with 400 extra practice hours, a master's in another field, and it asks for recent informatics nursing work. DNP preceptors must be nurses with a doctoral degree; the DNP guide has the details.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Post University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Post asks you to select your own preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Post track, your city and your next preceptorship course. We line up preceptors who fit the course, collect the license report, certification and CV the Clinical Coordinator reviews, and start the affiliation agreement early so your Week 1 packet is complete before the term opens.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental and behavioral health for PMHNP, doctoral nurse leaders for DNP hours
- Preceptor agreement letter, license report, certification and CV ready for Post's approval
- Every preceptorship planned together, close to home in a state where you hold your license and Post's disclosure says yes
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