North Carolina nursing CE requirements
For registered nurse license renewal, read off NCBON RN/LPN Continuing Competence rather than an aggregator. Checked 2026-10-15.
30 hours
if you satisfy this board with coursework, every 2 years
This board accepts alternatives to sitting continuing education hours. Any one of the pathways below satisfies the requirement.
Ways to satisfy North Carolina
15 contact hours plus 640 practice hours within the previous 2 years
15 CE hours640 practice hoursNational certification or recertification by a board-recognized body
30 contact hours of continuing education
30 CE hoursA board-approved refresher course
Two semester hours of post-licensure academic nursing education
15 contact hours plus a nursing project as principal or co-investigator
15 CE hours15 contact hours plus authoring a nursing article, paper, book or chapter
15 CE hours15 contact hours plus developing and conducting CE presentations totaling at least 5 contact hours
15 CE hours
More than one pathway here carries an hour figure and they are not interchangeable. A smaller number usually buys you less: it may be hours you deliver rather than attend, or hours that only count alongside something else.
Do BLS and ACLS cards count?
The board does not say
One contact hour is
50 minutes
- You can satisfy this board more than one way, so the right number of hours for you depends on which pathway you take.
All continuing competence requirements must be met before renewal. No grace periods and no exceptions will be granted.
Read from that page on 2026-10-15. Boards change their rules and their websites without announcing either, so treat this as a convenience and the board as the authority.
Get warned before your North Carolina licence renews
Tell us the date on your licence and we will email you 60 days before it lapses. Once, per cycle. No account, no password, nothing else sent to you.
Hold a licence in more than one state?
The compliance map takes the CE you have already done and shows you where it would hold up across all 51 jurisdictions at once, including the ones that do not work the way anybody assumes. Three questions, no account. Both tools are available in English, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.