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 →
Field guide · Free CE
Verified, accredited and state-approved courses curated by RenewRN. No upsells. If it's in this list, it's actually free.
Using CE from somewhere else? Check the provider is accredited and will count first.
60 courses · Last reviewed July 23, 2026
Showing 60 of 60 courses
Advocate Health
Free 1-contact-hour ANCC course from Advocate Health that fulfills the Illinois IDFPR implicit-bias continuing-education requirement for nurse license renewal (the one-hour implicit-bias CE required for renewals on or after January 1, 2023).
Free (cost $0.00); free account/login required.
Advocate Health
Free, ANCC-accredited 1-contact-hour implicit-bias awareness training for licensed healthcare professionals. A genuinely free national option for implicit-bias or cultural-competency CE; some states require 2 hours, so confirm the total against your state's requirement.
Free account required; the course page shows Cost: $0.00.
Alabama Board of Nursing
The ABN's own free 4.0-contact-hour class covering the Nurse Practice Act, board functions, licensure and CE regulations, and accountability. Satisfies Alabama's mandatory new-licensee course, and any Alabama-licensed nurse can take it for credit.
Requires your free ABN My Profile login (Alabama licensees). Credit is recorded automatically in your ABN CE record; all five segments must be viewed, no partial credit.
Alaska Nurses Association
A rotating set of free courses from the Alaska Nurses Association (typically 1.0 to 1.25 contact hours each), including Alaska-specific content like Pathway to Corrections Nursing in Alaska plus clinical topics such as DKA and head and spine trauma.
Only the courses marked Free are free (most other AaNA courses are member-priced); complete the evaluation for your certificate. Titles rotate, check the catalog.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
Rotating library of free CE on acute and critical care topics: sepsis, hemodynamics, ventilation, ECG. Hour count varies by course. ANCC-accredited.
Free AACN account required (membership not required).
American Heart Association
Complimentary 0.50-contact-hour course on structural racism in health care. Appears on Maryland's approved structural-racism training list for the renewal attestation that applies to first renewals after April 1, 2026.
Free AHA Professional Education Hub account; 75% post-test. CE listed through June 28, 2027.
American Nurses Association
ANA releases free CE courses on rotating topics each month: leadership, ethics, evidence-based practice, well-being. Hour count varies.
Area Health Education Center for Western Washington
Free 2-hour health equity course listed on the Washington State Department of Health health-equity CE page. Complies with Washington Substitute Senate Bill 5229, which requires Title 18 health professionals (including registered nurses) to complete at least two hours of health equity continuing education every four years.
Free; enroll with a free account.
Arkansas State Board of Nursing
The Board's own free course on advanced practice nursing in Arkansas, mandatory for APRNs with prescriptive authority before renewal and board-approved for contact hours.
Free; hosted on CE Broker (free basic account required to take the course and test).
Arkansas State Board of Nursing
The Board's own free course on prescription drug abuse and misuse, mandatory for APRNs with prescriptive authority before renewal and board-approved for contact hours.
Free; hosted on CE Broker (free basic account required).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nurse-specific federal training on integrated, multimodal pain management and the nurse's role in safe opioid use. Free contact hours via CDC TRAIN.
Free CDC TRAIN account required (course WB4716R).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Free federal training on screening for, diagnosing, and managing opioid use disorder, including medications for OUD. Contact hours via CDC TRAIN.
Free CDC TRAIN account required (course WB4664R).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Self-paced immunization modules (vaccine administration, storage & handling, Vaccines for Children, and more), roughly 1 to 1.25 nursing contact hours each, free via CDC TRAIN.
Free CDC TRAIN account required; CE earned per module.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Free, federally produced training on safer opioid prescribing aligned with the 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline. Satisfies state opioid CE mandates in several jurisdictions.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Comprehensive multi-module infection prevention course for long-term care (the full curriculum runs ~20 hours). Free nursing contact hours per module via CDC TRAIN.
Free CDC TRAIN account required; CE earned per module.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC's STRIVE curriculum on preventing healthcare-associated infections: foundational and HAI-specific modules. Free nursing contact hours per module via CDC TRAIN.
Free CDC TRAIN account required; CE earned per module.
CME Outfitters
Free 1.00-contact-hour activity on implicit bias and racial disparities in care. From a California Board-approved provider (CEP15510), so it can satisfy California's one-time implicit-bias hour for licensees in their first renewal cycle, and it appears on Maryland's approved implicit-bias training list for the renewal attestation that applies after April 1, 2026.
Free account required; 70% post-test. CE credit listed through March 28, 2027.
Elite Learning
Over 70 free CE courses across clinical specialties: patient safety, pharmacology, infection control, ethics. ANCC-accredited and accepted nationally.
Free Elite Learning account required.
HHS Office of Minority Health (Think Cultural Health)
Free, federally funded ANCC-accredited cultural-competency CE (about 5 contact hours) for behavioral health professionals. General cultural-competency CE; confirm it meets your state's specific cultural-competency or implicit-bias requirement.
HHS Office on Trafficking in Persons
The federal government's free human-trafficking training for healthcare professionals: recognizing, responding to, and reporting trafficking. Self-paced modules with nursing contact hours.
Free account required. Confirm it satisfies your state's specific mandatory requirement before relying on it.
Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS)
Free online mandated-reporter training from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect. Illinois nurses are mandated reporters and attest to completing this training at license renewal (325 ILCS 5/4).
Free (state-provided); free account required; print your certificate at the end of the course.
Iowa Health and Human Services
Iowa's official free mandatory child-abuse reporter training (course DS-169), the state-approved course that meets the Iowa Board of Nursing reporter-training requirement. A separate dependent-adult course (DS-168) is also free.
Kentucky Board of Nursing
Free 1-contact-hour Alzheimer's and dementia course offered directly by the Kentucky Board of Nursing (board-issued, so board-accepted). Helps meet Kentucky's dementia and Alzheimer's CE content.
Kentucky Department for Public Health (Maternal & Child Health)
Free pediatric abusive head trauma course from the Kentucky Department for Public Health, a Kentucky Board of Nursing continuing education provider, awarding 1.6 nursing contact hours and hosted on TRAIN. Meets Kentucky's one-time pediatric abusive head trauma training requirement for nurses.
Free (offered at no charge); free TRAIN account required; the certificate must be claimed within 30 days of completing the course.
Kentucky Department for Public Health / KCADV
Free 3-contact-hour domestic violence course offered at no charge by the Kentucky Department for Public Health, a Kentucky Board of Nursing continuing education provider, and hosted on TRAIN. Meets Kentucky's one-time 3-hour domestic violence CE requirement for nurses.
Free (offered at no charge); free TRAIN account required; the certificate must be claimed within 30 days of completing the course.
Medscape Education
Large, rotating library of free ANCC-accredited nursing CE across clinical specialties, pharmacology, and chronic-disease management. Genuinely free with an account.
Free Medscape account required; specific activities rotate and expire.
Michigan Human Trafficking Commission
A free 1-hour video training created by the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission with the Wayne County Medical Society, covering victim identification and reporting. It meets the content standard for Michigan’s one-time human-trafficking training required for license renewal. This is a self-attested training requirement, not CE contact hours toward the renewal total.
Free public video, no account required; Michigan’s human-trafficking training is self-attested at renewal (no certificate issued).
Montana Board of Nursing
Eight free self-paced modules from the Board itself, about 15 contact hours total: Role of the Board (1.5), Delegation (1.5), What Happens When a Complaint Is Filed (2.5), Nurse Licensure Compact (1.5), Licensing Process (2.0), Substance Use Disorder (2.0), Scope of Practice for LPNs and RNs (2.0), and Ethics (2.0). Montana repealed its CE mandate, so these serve professional development and other states' hour totals.
Free on the Board's Teachable site; complete each module and its evaluation for that module's hours. Contact-hour approval listed through October 31, 2026.
myCME (Medical Learning Institute / ACOFP, jointly accredited)
Free, ANCC-accredited 1-contact-hour activity on diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. A national dementia/Alzheimer's option useful toward Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island dementia CE; confirm your board accepts ANCC contact hours.
Free account required; activity expires February 26, 2027.
National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center (The Fenway Institute)
Free on-demand LGBTQ health learning modules (implicit bias, affirming communication, sexual- and gender-minority health) usable for the District of Columbia's LGBTQ cultural-competency CE requirement. Nurses are eligible for credit.
Free, but the exact contact-hour award per module is shown only after creating a free account; confirm hours meet DC's 2-hour LGBTQ requirement.
Nebraska ICAP/ASAP (UNMC / Nebraska Medicine)
Free infection-prevention modules and monthly webinars from Nebraska's Infection Control Assessment and Promotion Program. Many modules and live webinars award nursing contact hours (typically 0.5 to 1.0 each) from a provider approved through an ANCC-accredited approver.
Free account required. Check each module's CE statement: not every module carries contact hours, and webinar credit requires live attendance.
Nevada State Board of Nursing
Free cultural-competency CE (about 2 hours) offered through the Nevada State Board of Nursing's continuing-education resources, on the Board's own approved list.
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
Free 2-hour state-sponsored training that satisfies New York's mandated-reporter child-abuse identification and reporting requirement for nurse licensure. Provided at no cost by NY OCFS.
Nurse.com
Rotating library of free ANCC-accredited CE designed to satisfy state contact-hour requirements. Topics include human trafficking, dementia care, pain management, mental health.
Free Nurse.com account required.
Nurse.com (Relias)
A rotating set of free ANCC-accredited courses (typically 0.5 to 1.5 contact hours each) from Relias, a California Board-approved provider (CEP13791), so the hours count for California RNs.
The free path requires agreeing to share your contact and survey information with course sponsors for marketing; the identical course without data-sharing costs $25. No credit card needed for the free path.
Ohio State University College of Nursing
Free Category A course (Ohio Nurse Practice Act law and rules) from Ohio State University College of Nursing, 1.25 contact hours, approved by the Ohio Nurses Association as an Ohio Board of Nursing approver (OBN-001-91). Ohio nurses need at least one Category A hour each renewal; the content is framed for APRNs but the OBN-approved Category A credit applies to RN renewal.
Free; free account required. Expires May 19, 2027.
Oregon Pain Management Commission
Oregon’s own free 1-contact-hour pain management module, provided by the Oregon Pain Management Commission. It satisfies the OPMC-specific hour Oregon requires at initial licensure and every 36 months. Oregon also requires six additional pain-management CE hours from an approved provider, which this module does not cover.
Free (no fee); a free account/registration is required to start and download the certificate.
PCSS / American Society of Addiction Medicine (SAMHSA-funded)
Free 4-contact-hour ANCC course on treating alcohol use disorder, made available at no cost through SAMHSA funding and jointly accredited (ANCC). Satisfies the substance-abuse continuing education Rhode Island (2 hours) and Delaware (3 hours) require of nurses, and exceeds both.
Free (SAMHSA-funded); free account required.
PCSS / APNA (SAMHSA-funded)
Free 8-hour training on opioids, controlled substances, and substance use disorders, provided at no cost through SAMHSA funding with ANCC nursing contact hours (via APNA). Satisfies the federal DEA MATE Act 8-hour requirement and provides the responsible controlled-substance and opioid prescribing continuing education that APRN prescribers renew in this state. For nurses with controlled-substance prescriptive authority; each state's exact hour requirement varies and most recur each renewal, so claim the nursing contact-hour credit and confirm your total with your board.
Free (SAMHSA-funded); free account required. For APRN prescribers; a certificate is issued after each course and a final certificate after all eight.
Pri-Med
Free 4-contact-hour opioid and pain-care course from Pri-Med, AANP-accredited for nurse practitioners and on the Louisiana State Board of Nursing approved-course list. Satisfies Louisiana's one-time 3-hour controlled-substance prescribing CE required of APRNs at controlled-dangerous-substance licensing (Act 76).
Free (register for free); AANP-accredited (for nurse practitioners); confirm it is on the current LSBN approved list at renewal.
Pri-Med Institute
Free library of New Jersey-specific end-of-life and palliative-care CME activities for nurse practitioners. Stack activities to reach New Jersey's 2-hour end-of-life requirement (N.J.A.C. 13:37).
Free account required; activities run about 0.75 hour each, so combine a few to reach 2 hours.
Simmons University (MA DPH-approved)
Free online training that satisfies the Massachusetts Chapter 260 domestic- and sexual-violence training requirement for nurse licensure. The training and certificate are free; a graded CEU-credit version is an optional paid add-on.
Free training and certificate satisfy the MA Chapter 260 requirement; the only paid option is optional graded CEU credit.
SOWEGA AHEC
Free 1.5-contact-hour on-demand program from Southwest Georgia AHEC covering medical cannabis and Georgia's cannabis laws for older adults. The Georgia Board of Nursing deems SOWEGA-AHEC an approved provider, and the activity is approved toward Georgia licensure renewal.
Free (register via Eventbrite); recording available through July 23, 2028. Registration, attendance, and completed evaluation/post-test required; no partial credit.
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
State-approved free human trafficking training that satisfies the Texas mandatory CE requirement for healthcare practitioners. Created and hosted by the Texas HHSC.
U.S. HHS Office on Trafficking in Persons (NHTTAC)
Free 2-contact-hour human trafficking training (SOAR to Health and Wellness) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Trafficking in Persons, jointly accredited through the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine. Teaches identifying and responding to trafficking, satisfying Delaware's one-hour abuse-and-violence CE requirement (which explicitly includes trafficking).
Free (no fee); free TRAIN account required.
UAA College of Health, CDVSA & Alaska Nurses Association
Free 24.5-contact-hour online forensic nursing academy (Part 1) covering domestic violence and sexual assault care, jointly provided by UAA, Alaska's Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and the Alaska Nurses Association.
Provided at no charge; enroll free on the AaNA Thinkific site. Substantial commitment (20 to 25 hours of work). Part 2 is a separate in-person session.
University of Miami School of Nursing (SHARE)
Free, self-paced 2-hour human trafficking training from the University of Miami School of Nursing, an ANCC-accredited provider of nursing continuing professional development. Meets Florida's human-trafficking training requirement for nurses under Florida Statute 464.013 (required every two years).
Free; free online registration required.
University of Minnesota School of Public Health & MDH
Free self-paced module (no fee) produced with the Minnesota Department of Health; awards 0.75 contact hours on trauma-informed care fundamentals.
Awards general contact hours / CEU rather than ANCC nursing NCPD. Minnesota's Board does not pre-approve providers; the licensee determines whether an activity meets the CE requirement. Registration on learning.umn.edu required.
University of Missouri CEHP & Missouri DHSS
Free seven-part course (up to 25 nursing contact hours) from the University of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services School Health Program, covering the full scope of school nursing.
Cost $0.00; free Canvas account required. The accreditation statement appears on the certificate rather than the course page. Missouri requires no CE for RN renewal, so these hours serve professional development and other states' totals.
University of Missouri CEHP & Missouri DHSS
Free 5.25-contact-hour orientation for new school nurses from the University of Missouri and the Missouri DHSS School Health Program.
Cost $0.00; free Canvas account required. Accreditation statement appears on the certificate rather than the course page.
University of Pittsburgh / PA Child Welfare Resource Center
Free 3-hour child-abuse recognition and reporting course on the Pennsylvania Department of State's Act 31 approved-provider list, satisfying the Act 31 mandated-reporter training for nurse licensure.
University of Washington IDEA Program (HRSA-funded)
Free, comprehensive self-paced HIV curriculum with nursing CE across many lessons. Useful toward the District of Columbia's public-health (sexual health) CE priority; accumulate hours across lessons. Note: this does NOT satisfy Florida's or Nevada's HIV/AIDS mandates, which require state-specific content.
Free of charge; free account required. CE is earned per lesson, accumulate to the hours you need.
UNMC College of Nursing
Free 4.0-contact-hour ANCC enduring activity from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing on physical safety and mental health in healthcare workplaces.
Free registration with UNMC CNE; self-paced enduring activity.
Upstate AHEC (with USC School of Law)
Free 1.0-contact-hour South Carolina AHEC course on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect, a core mandated-reporter topic for SC nurses.
Free; requires pretest, 80% post-test, and evaluation for the certificate. Credit listed through June 30, 2027.
VA National Center for PTSD
Free 1-hour course on clinical suicide risk assessment and stratification: ideation, intent and plans, risk and protective factors, and structured instruments. For Connecticut nurses it maps to the screening prong of CT's 2-hour mental-health screening and suicide-prevention requirement.
Credit for non-VA clinicians is claimed through a free VHA TRAIN account.
Vanderbilt CAMHL / ONE Tennessee (TN Dept of Health)
Free continuing education from Vanderbilt's Center for Advancing Mobile Health Learning, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Health. Its opioid courses meet Tennessee's controlled-substance prescribing CE requirement for licensure, earning up to four CE credits including ANCC nursing contact hours. Delivered through the QuizTime mobile app as one daily question over about a month.
Free; delivered via the QuizTime mobile app (one daily question over about a month). For Tennessee controlled-substance CE.
Veterans Health Administration
Free 1-hour suicide-prevention training on lethal means safety counseling, offered at no cost under MISSION Act Section 123. For Connecticut nurses it maps to the suicide-prevention prong of CT's 2-hour requirement.
Free TRAIN registration required; complete the 1-hour version for CE (the 20-minute short version awards no credit).
Western Region Public Health Training Center (University of Arizona)
Free self-paced 2.0-contact-hour course on recognizing and challenging stigma in health care, from the University of Arizona's public health training center. Arizona has no fixed CE mandate, so hours serve the education competency option and other states' totals. The WRPHTC catalog has more free CE (e.g. Public Health Ethics, also 2.0 ANCC hours).
Free per the WRPHTC CE program; requires a free account on their Moodle learning site.
Wild Iris Medical Education
Free ANCC-accredited implicit bias training that satisfies the recurring implicit-bias CE requirement in Illinois and Michigan, plus California's and Maryland's one-time implicit-bias requirements, and counts as general CE elsewhere.
Wild Iris Medical Education
One free contact hour covering coronavirus pathophysiology, transmission, and clinical presentation. ANCC-accredited and accepted by all U.S. state nursing boards.
A free RenewRN account logs your CE against your state's requirement and tells you exactly how many hours are left before renewal. No payment, and you keep every entry.
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Ranked by how many state boards mandate each topic. The ones at the top satisfy a required CE category in the most states. A smart place to start before browsing the rest.
Opioid Prescribing & Pain Management
Required in 9 states8 free courses
Suicide Prevention & Mental Health
Required in 5 states8 free courses
Implicit Bias
Required in 4 states8 free courses
Human Trafficking
Required in 4 states6 free courses
Dementia & Alzheimer's Care
Required in 4 states3 free courses
Infection Control
Required in 1 state7 free courses
Patient Safety
Accepted broadly3 free courses
Some mandatory topics (Texas human trafficking, Florida domestic violence, California implicit bias) are state-specific. Jump to your state for the courses that satisfy its requirements. Every jurisdiction below.
Free CE keeps your license current. When you are ready to go further:
Yes. Every course in this catalog is verified free: no trial periods, no certificate paywalls, no "free with $X membership" gotchas. If a free account is required to access (AACN, Nurse.com, Elite Learning), that's noted directly on the entry.
Most are. Each entry lists its accreditor, typically ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center), and in some cases a state board of nursing for state-mandatory topics. ANCC-accredited CE is accepted by every U.S. state nursing board that recognizes ANCC.
Yes, in the states marked on each course. National (ANCC-accredited) courses count toward general contact-hour requirements in every U.S. state. State-specific courses (like the Texas HHSC HEART human-trafficking training) satisfy that state's mandatory CE category. Always confirm with your state board of nursing before relying on a single course for a mandated topic.
No. RenewRN earns nothing on the courses in this free catalog, and there are no upsells. The catalog exists because charging nurses for information they can get for free elsewhere is the thing we're trying to fix.
We verify every course URL weekly via an automated link checker, and re-check the catalog's free status and accreditation periodically. Providers sometimes move a course behind a paywall or trial without notice, so if you hit a catch we missed, tell us at /free-ce/submit and we'll pull it.
RenewRN earns nothing if you take any of these courses. We curate this list because charging nurses for information they can get for free is the thing we're trying to fix. If you find a free CE source we missed, email support@renewrn.net.
This catalog is free to cite or link to. No signup, no paywalls. Educators and writers are welcome to point students here. Suggested citation:
RenewRN Free CE Catalog (2026). 60 verified free nursing CE courses. https://www.renewrn.net/free-ce