Pennsylvania Nursing CE Courses
Last updated Jun 8, 2026
Pennsylvania Nursing Continuing Education Requirements
RN Requirements
- 30 hours of continuing education every 2 years
- Child Abuse Recognition & Reporting: 2 contact hours
- Opioid Prescribing / Pain Management (prescribers): as-required
- 2 of the 30 hours must cover child abuse recognition and reporting.
LPN Requirements
- 30 hrs of continuing education each renewal period
- LPN: Every 2 years.
- radiation safety, biological effects of radiation, quality assurance, and quality control
APRN Requirements
- 30 hours of continuing education for advanced practice nurses
- Renewal cycle: 2 years
- Pharmacology: 16 pharmacology hours if prescriptive authority
- Required topic: Pharmacology applicable to CRNP specialty
Show me the course list for my licence
Pennsylvania RN required courses
28 contact hours in this list, included with your yearly pass. Always confirm with your board before you renew.
2 contact hoursAfter completing this course, nurses will be able to distinguish organ donation from tissue donation, explain living and deceased donation pathways, and describe current standards for determining death by neurologic or circulatory criteria.
Elective courses
Pick from these to finish your hours. Every one is included with the yearly pass.
4 contact hoursChronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a heterogeneous lung condition marked by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow obstruction. The underlying abnormalities may involve the conducting airways, terminal bronchioles, alveoli, pulmonary vessels, or a combination of these structures.
3 contact hoursAfter completing this course, nurses will be able to identify colorectal cancer risk factors, recognize concerning symptom patterns, and distinguish screening from diagnostic evaluation.
10 contact hoursApply current nursing ethics codes, structured reasoning, informed consent standards, advocacy practices, and professional accountability to common clinical dilemmas.
2 contact hoursBuild skill in recognizing, assessing, documenting, reporting, and responding to suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of older adults.
3 contact hoursBuild nursing competence in recognizing, assessing, escalating, and coordinating evidence-based care for infants and children with growth faltering.
4 contact hoursBuild practical skills to recognize frontotemporal dementia, support diagnostic evaluation, manage symptoms and safety risks, and provide person-centered nursing care.
Pennsylvania nursing CE questions
Straight from the Pennsylvania board
- Renewal period
- RN/LPN: Every 2 years.
- RN requirement
- 30/2 yrs
- LPN / LVN requirement
- 30/2 yrs
- Mandatory topics
- radiation safety, biological effects of radiation, quality assurance, and quality control
- Required courses
- RN: 30 CE hours, including 2 hours child-abuse recognition/reporting and the new applicable 2-hour organ-donation education requirement. LPN: 30 CE hours, including 2 hours child-abuse recognition/reporting. Source: Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.
- Good to know
- Pennsylvania requires 30 hours of approved CE for renewal. A major 2026 update is the new organ-donation education requirement for RNs, effective May 1, 2026.
- Advanced practice CE
- 30 hours
- Renewal period
- 2 years
- Pharmacology
- 16 pharmacology hours if prescriptive authority
- Who it applies to
- CRNPs with prescriptive authority
- Controlled substances / opioids
- Yes, where prescriptive authority applies
- Pain and opioid content
- None identified as a universal APRN pharm-hour requirement
- Prescriptive authority
- Yes
- Who approves the course
- Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing
- Accepted providers
- Board-approved/recognized CE providers and qualifying national organizations
Placeholder citation: 49 Pa. Code §21.132 (admin-managed field). Reviewed Jun 8, 2026. CSV/spreadsheet export; provider reporting for child abuse training
Still have a question?
Ask about requirements, a course, pricing or your license. Answers come from our own course list and state notes.
Answers come from Fast CE For Less's own course list and our notes on state requirements. Always check your board's own rules before you count hours.