Every CE requirement verified against official state nursing board sources. How RenewRN verifies the data →
Every CE requirement verified against official state nursing board sources. How RenewRN verifies the data →
The questions state requirement pages gloss over — answered directly, with the verified state board rules that back each answer. When a rule varies by state, we show you exactly which states address it and what their published rules say.
Usually not. Most state boards of nursing treat BLS/CPR certification as a condition of employment — a competency card, not accredited continuing education. Some states do allow it with limits (Nebraska, for example, caps CPR/BLS at 4 of its required hours), so check your state's rule before counting it toward renewal.
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It depends on when you took them. The coursework that earned you your license doesn't count — CE has to be earned after licensure, during the renewal period. But academic nursing courses you take after licensure (an RN-to-BSN, an MSN course) often do count, and some states publish an exact conversion — Maryland, for example, credits 1 semester hour of nursing-related college coursework as 15 contact hours.
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Only if your state explicitly allows it — and the two states in our data that address it directly go opposite ways. New Jersey allows up to 15 excess hours to roll into the next renewal period; Ohio prohibits carryover entirely. If your state's published rule doesn't mention carryover, the safe assumption is that hours count only in the cycle you earned them.
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Four years is the most common answer across the 51 boards we track — but several states want five, New York wants six, and a few publish no specific number. The full verified table for every state is below. When in doubt, keep everything for at least two full renewal cycles; storage is free and reinstatement isn't.
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In some states, yes — not by skipping the requirement, but by satisfying it a different way. Several boards accept alternatives to traditional CE hours: holding a national certification, completing academic coursework, documented practice hours, or serving as a preceptor. Eight states in our verified data publish multi-pathway rules — Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming — and in Wyoming, CE hours aren't even mandated for RN/LPN renewal.
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Your state's page has the full picture — hours, mandatory topics, fees, deadlines, and audit rules — with the official board source linked on every page.