Nursing Continuing Education Requirements

What is Nursing Continuing Education (CE)?
As a nurse in a changing world, you must keep pace with changing trends and developments in the nursing and overall health care field. This is where continuing education comes in. CEs are required by all state boards of nursing to enable registered nurses to renew their licenses.

They are planned educational programs designed to equip nurses with current developments in nursing to ensure maintained and improved clinical performance. They are usually programs where participants engage in learning experiences beyond the entry-level. They can also be taken to enable nurses to diversify their nursing practice and develop knowledge and skills in a different nursing field.  When nurses participate in continuing education programs, they earn contact hours.

Contact Hours

It is a common thing to confuse a continuing education unit (CEU) and contact hours while both imply different things. You get contact hours after taking CEUs. A continuing education unit is on the other hand is not equivalent to one contact hour. Normally, 1 CEU can be between 1 to 10 contact hours depending on the time taken to complete it. Every state has a set number of contact hours required to meet licensure renewal for the different levels of nursing.

Factors Affecting Nursing Continuing Education Requirements

Meeting nursing CE requirements depend on a number of things:

Nursing Level

Depending on the level of nursing you are in, there will be different CE requirements. This means that renewing entry-level registered nurses’ licenses would require different CE from those of Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses LPN/LVN or even Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) licensure.

Continuing Education Units by state

As mentioned earlier, each state board of nursing has its own CE requirements for nurses at different levels. Some states may require many contact hours as compared to others. The state in which the nurse is licensed dictates the number of contact hours required for renewing the license. RNs and LPN/LVN seeking licenses in other states may benefit from compact state licenses. This gives a student a multi-state license without having to take CEUs from both states.

Level of Working Experience

Boards of nursing also have a set number of contact hours depending on the mode of working nurses have. Nurses who have been employed on a full-time basis during the license validity cycle require fewer contact hours than those that practice on a part-time basis.

Reason For Taking The CEUs

The reason for which a nurse is taking CE also dictates the number of contact hours needed for re-licensure.  Inactive/dormant nurses are usually required to take more contact hours than active nurses seeking reinstatement of their licenses.

Nursing Continuing Education Requirements by State

Below is a tabulated and simplified overview of the important nursing CE requirements on a state-to-state basis. You will notice that a number of states do not require nursing contact hours. Rather, nurses in those states require national certification to keep their nursing licenses valid and active.  The table also shows the number of years nurse licenses remain active until the next applicable renewal cycle. Since the information of CE requirements is bound to change at the sole discretion of a particular board of nursing, students may find it important to verify the information given in the table below.

State	Renewal Cycle	Continuing Education  (CE)Requirements (contact hours )
		Registered Nurses	Advanced Practice Nurses
Alabama	2	24 hours of CE	Similar to RN +6 in pharmacology for Certified midwives & Nurse Practitioners
Alaska	2	Any two from: 30 hours of CE 30 hours of Professional Activities or 320 hours of employment	National Certification
Arizona	4	None	National Certification
Arkansas		Any one of below: 15 hours of CE Recertification by a national certifying body or Completion of Nurse Refresher Course	National Certification with preceptor authority
California	2	30 hours of CE	NONE
Colorado	2	NONE	National Certification
Connecticut	1	NONE	National Certification
Delaware	2	30 hours of CE and 400 hours of clinical practice	If National Certification is available: 1500 clinical hrs over the last 5 years 600 clinical hrs in the last 2 years or Graduated within the last 2 years If National Certification is Unavailable: 1000 clinical hrs in the last 2 years
			NB: APNs with prescriptive authority must take 10 hrs of CE in addition to any one of the above requirements.
District of Columbia	2	24 hrs of CE	24 hrs of CE: 15 in pharmacology & 9 in specialty area
Florida	2	24 hrs of CE	National Certification
Hawaii	2	NONE	National Certification
Georgia	2	NONE	National Certification
Idaho	2	NONE	National Certification
Illinois	2	20 hrs of CE	50 hrs of CE
Indiana	2	24 hrs of CE, 6 each in Legal, Assessment, Documentation, and Pharmacology	30 hrs of CE, 8 in pharmacology
Iowa	3	36 hrs for license older than 3months 24 hrs for license less than 3months	Maintain National Certification from the credentialing body of the APRN
Kansas	2	30 hrs of CE	30 hrs of CE
Kentucky	1	14 hrs of CE and other requirements: 2 hrs of CE in HIV/AIDS every 10 yrs	14 hrs of CE or National Certification
Louisiana	1	10 hrs of CE for part-time nurses 5 hrs of CE for full-time nurses	10 hrs of CE for part-time nurses 5 hrs of CE for full-time nurses
Maine	2	None	75 hrs of CE
Maryland	2	None	National Certification
Massachusetts	2	15 hrs of CE	National Certification
Michigan	2	25 hrs of CE	National Certification
Minnesota	2	24 hrs of CE	National Certification
Mississippi	2	None	National Certification
Montana	2	None	National Certification
Montana	2	None	40 CEUs and an additional 10 CEUs for APRN  with prescriptive authority
Nevada	2	30 hrs of CE	30 hrs of CE and an additional 15 in APRN specialty
New Hampshire	2	30 hrs of CE	30 hrs of CE similar to RN and additional 30 hrs in APRN specialty
New Jersey		30 hrs of CE. Contact hours exceeding 30 can be carried over to the next cycle	National Certification
New Mexico	2	30 hrs of CE	50 hrs of CE, 30 similar with RN and 20 for the APRN specialty
New York	2	3 hrs in infection control every 4yrs	National Certification
North Carolina	2	30 hrs of CE	National Certification
North Dakota	2	12 hrs of CE	National Certification plus 15 hrs of CE for APRN with prescriptive authority
Ohio	2	24 hrs of CE	RN CE plus National Certification
Oklahoma	2	None	National certification APRNs with prescriptive authority: 15 hrs of CE every 3 years
Oregon	2	7 hrs of CE in pain management	Nurse Practitioners:100 hrs of CE Clinical nurse Specialists with prescriptive authority: 100 Hrs of CE Clinical Nurses Specialists without Prescriptive authority:40 hrs of CE Other APRNs: 15 Hrs of CE
Pennsylvania	2	30 hrs of CE	30 hrs of CE
Rhode Island	2	10 hrs of CE	National Certification
South Carolina	2	30 hrs of CE	National Certification
South Dakota	2	None	National Certification
Tennessee	2	None	National Certification plus 3 hours in pharmacology
Texas	2	20 hrs of CE	20 hrs of CE An additional 5 hours for those with limited prescriptive authority
Utah	2	At least 400 hrs of clinical practice, no CE 200-400 clinical hours: 15hrs of CE 0-200 clinical hours: 30 Hrs of CE	National Certification
Vermont	2	None	National Certification
Virginia	2	None	National Certification Additional 8 hrs of CE for APRNs with prescriptive authority
Washington	2	45 hrs of CE plus 531 hours of clinical practice	30 hrs of CE Additional 15 hrs of CE for APRNs with prescriptive authority
West Virginia	1	12 hrs of CE	National Certification
Wisconsin	2	NONE	National Certification Additional 8 hrs of pharmacology CE for APRNs with prescriptive authority
Wyoming	2	None of 1600 hrs of clinical are met in the last 5 years If no clinical hours, 20 Hrs of CE	National Certification  plus 30 hrs of CE or 60 hrs of CE plus 400 hours of clinical practice