Continuing education (CE) is an important requirement for most nurses. In addition to meeting licensing requirements, coursework helps nurses keep on top of the ever-changing healthcare landscape.
Nurses have many options to meet their CE requirements. Online learning through Elite Healthcare’s platform is a popular option among nurses across the country.
Continuing Education Requirements for Nurses
Every state has its own continuing education requirements for licensed nurses, although many are similar. The aim of continued education (CE) is to ensure that nurses stay informed about the latest developments and advancements in the healthcare field.
Here’s a brief rundown of the CE requirements in every state. Keep in mind that these requirements can change at any time, so it’s important to check your state’s rules to ensure that you comply with their requirements.
- Alabama: 2 years; 24 contact hours for RNs; 24+ contact hours for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Alaska: 2 years; 30 hours of CE, 30 hours of participation in professional activities, or 320 hours of employment
- Arizona: 4 years
- Arkansas: 2 years; 15 contact hours, minimum of 1 college credit hour course, or hold a certification or recertification
- California: 2 years; 30 hours of CE for RNs
- Colorado: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Connecticut: 1 year; national certification for APRNs
- Delaware: 2 years; 30 contact hours for RNs and 24 contact hours for LPNs; APRNs have more complex requirements
- District of Columbia: 2 years; 24 contact hours of CE
- Florida: 2 years; 18 hours of CE as well as specialized education courses
- Georgia: 2 years; 30 hours of CE for RNs; 20 hours of CE for LPNs; APRNs require national certification
- Hawaii: 2 years; 30 hours CE for RNs and APRNs as well as other renewal requirements
- Idaho: 2 years; 30 contact hours for APRNs
- Illinois: 2 years; 20 contact hours for RNs and LPNs; 50 contact hours for APRNs
- Indiana: 2 years; APRNs with prescriptive authority must obtain 30 hours of CE
- Iowa: 2 years; 36 hours CE for 3-year license and 24 contact hours for licenses less than three years
- Kansas: 2 years; 30 contact hours for RNs and APRNs
- Kentucky: 1 year; 14 contact hours/year, or national certification
- Louisiana: 5-15 contact hours, depending on practicing hours
- Maine: 2 years; 75+ CEUs in their practice area for APRNs
- Maryland: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Massachusetts: 2 years; 15 contact hours
- Michigan: 2 years; 25+ hours CE w/at least 2 hours in pain and symptom management
- Minnesota: 2 years; 24 contact hours for RNs; 12 contact hours for LPNs
- Mississippi: 2 years; 40 CEUs for APRNs, with 2 CEUs relating to prescribing controlled substances
- Missouri: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Montana: 2 years; 24+ contact hours
- Nebraska: 2 years; 20+ contact hours for RNs; 40 contact hours for APRNs
- Nevada: 2 years; 45 hours CE for RNs; APRNs must also take 15 additional CEUs related to their specialties
- New Hampshire: 2 years; 30 contact hours for RNs; 60 contact hours for APRNs
- New Jersey: 2 years; 30 hours CE
- New Mexico: 2 years; 30 hours CE
- New York: 3 years; national certification for APRNs
- North Carolina: 2 years; 30 contact hours and several other specialized CE requirements
- North Dakota: 2 years; 12 contact hours
- Ohio: 2 years; 24 hours CE
- Oklahoma: 2 years; 24 contact hours
- Oregon: 2 years; 45+ hours CE for APRNs
- Pennsylvania: 2 years; 30 hours CE
- Rhode Island: 2 years; 10 contact hours
- South Carolina: 2 years; 30 contact hours
- South Dakota: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Tennessee: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Texas: 2 years; 20 hours CE
- Utah: 2 years; 30 contact hours, 200 practice hours with 15 contact hours, or 400 practice hours
- Vermont: 2 years; national certification for APRNs
- Virginia: 2 years; 15 contact hours with 640 practice hours, or 30 hours of CE
- Washington: 3 years; 45 hours CE for RNs; 30 hours CE for APRNs with 15 additional hours in pharmacotherapeutics (prescriptive authority)
- West Virginia: 1 year; 12 hours CE/year
- Wisconsin: 2 years; 16 contact hours for APRNs
- Wyoming: 2 years; 15 hours CE if nurses don’t meet 400-hour practice requirement
Elite Nursing CE: What You Need to Know
Elite Healthcare offers continuing education courses to help nurses meet their state’s CEU requirements for license renewal. Courses are available online and led by experts in the field.
The content offered in the courses is evidence-based and can be accessed through a flexible platform that allows you to learn when it’s most convenient for you.
Elite Learning is Accredited
EliteCME.com is accredited as a provider for nursing CE by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Elite is also an approved CE provider with several state boards, including:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- New Mexico
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
They Serve Every State
Elite offers nursing CE courses for every state, so you can find courses that meet your CEU requirements for license renewal or to simply ensure that you’re providing patients with the best possible care.
Automatically Reports Nursing CEU in Some States
In some states, Elite will automatically report your completed course hours to CE Broker within 24 hours. Automatic reporting is convenient and helps streamline the license renewal process.
Nursing Passport Membership Gives You Flexibility
With Elite’s Nursing Passport program, students have access to the entire CE course library for one or two years, depending on the length of the subscription.
Nursing Passport includes:
- 350+ peer-reviewed courses
- 1800 contact hours
- 155+ pharmacology hours
- Downloadable PDFs with every course
- ProCare Video series covering timely topics
- Members-only specialty and career content
- Job listings that are updated daily
- Weekly newsletters
Webinars Help Expand Your Knowledge
Elite offers free webinars hosted by industry experts on important topics for nurses, including self-care, infections, battling nurse fatigue and more.
Nurses can sign up for upcoming webinars or view on-demand webinars at any time. Some of the topics covered in on-demand webinars include:
- Telehealth’s effect on nursing
- Ethical considerations
- Breast cancer detection, screening and treatment
- Helping families cope with loss
- Stress and self-care in the age of COVID-19
Elite Healthcare CEU Credits for Nurses
Elite has an extensive catalog of courses that meet the CE requirements for nurses. Some of these courses include:
Specialty Western CE Series
- Loss, Grief and Bereavement: Arms nurses with essential information they can use to help families, individuals and the community cope with grief, loss and bereavement.
- Substance Use Disorders: Covers the epidemiology of addiction, substances that are commonly abused, sociocultural influences on addiction and standards of treatment.
- ADHD: Helps nurses better recognize, manage and provide better care to patients affected by ADHD.
- Cardiovascular Nursing: Helps nurses better care for patients affected by cardiovascular disease by providing a deeper understanding of the disease.
- Childhood Obesity: Looks at the complexities of childhood obesity, including prevention, treatment and nutritional recommendations.
- Depression: Helps nurses better understand depression, including diagnostic criteria, how antidepressants work and their potential side effects, models of depression, treatment options and more.
- Diabetes Essentials: Gives nurses a deeper understanding of diabetes and prediabetes care.
- Documentation for Nurses: Documentation plays a critical role in nursing. This course covers regulatory and professional requirements for documentation as well as the best practices.
- Trauma Nursing Essentials: Covers the changing trauma system landscape, from systems to psychosocial aspects, anatomic-specific trauma to recovery care and more.
- Healthy Aging: Covers key concepts for healthy aging and living and examines the most common conditions associated with aging.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) 101
A 2-hour course covering the coronavirus and the national standards of care outlined by the CDC and other agencies. The course covers the most up-to-date standardized information relating to identification of the virus, care and prevention.
This course highlights Elite’s focus on providing nurses with the most relevant and up-to-date CE courses.
400+ Nursing CE Courses
Elite Healthcare has more than 400 nursing CE courses to choose from, with specific courses that meet your state’s requirements.
Some of these courses include:
- Autoimmune Diseases and Pregnancy: Provides nurses with a background in autoimmune diseases as well as diagnosing methods, testing and the effects on pregnancy, delivery and more.
- The Endocrine System: Covers the anatomy of the endocrine system as well as diseases and disorders of this system.
- Anxiety Disorders: Provides nurses with up-to-date information on common anxiety disorders, how to screen for anxiety appropriately and how to work with clients who are anxious.
- Assessing and Preventing Falls: Provides information on how to develop and implement a fall assessment program, including preventative measures and educating patients.
- Acupuncture Overview for Nurses: Covers the history of acupuncture, how it works and what an acupuncture visit entails.
This is just a small preview of the courses available at Elite Healthcare. Nurses can choose from hundreds of courses to satisfy their CE requirements.
What are EliteCME Nursing Reviews Saying?
EliteCME has more than 50,000 reviews on their website from students who trust their platform for their continuing education requirements.
Students give Elite an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars.
The Benefits of EliteCME
There are many benefits to using Elite’s platform, including:
Convenience and Flexibility
Because courses are available online, you can learn at your own pace and at a time that’s most convenient for you. Nurses have hectic schedules, and it’s not always easy to maintain a conventional learning schedule.
With Elite, you have the flexibility and convenience of online learning right at your fingertips.
Accreditation
The courses available with Elite are accredited and approved by state boards to ensure that your CEUs satisfy your state’s requirements.
Passport Program Makes CE a Breeze
Becoming a Passport program member makes it even easier and more convenient to complete your CE requirements. A single membership will give you access to their entire course library, so you can take your courses whenever it’s most convenient for you and over a longer period of time.
Ultimately, the program saves you time and makes it easy to access any courses you want at any time.