Virginia nursing CE requirements
For registered nurse license renewal, read off 18VAC90-19-160(A) 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 Virginia
Current specialty certification by a national certifying organization
Three credit hours of post-licensure academic education
A board-approved refresher course
An evidence-based practice project or nursing research study
Authoring or co-authoring a publication during the renewal cycle
Teaching or developing a course yielding 3 semester hours, a 15-week course, or specialty certification
Teaching or developing continuing education, up to 30 contact hours
30 CE hours15 contact hours of workshops, seminars, conferences or courses plus 640 hours of active practice
15 CE hours640 practice hours30 contact hours of workshops, seminars, conferences or courses
30 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.
Nine options, meet at least one. Exempt for the first renewal after initial licensure by examination or endorsement. Dually licensed RN/LPNs need meet only one option.
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 Virginia 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.