Georgia Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

• Licenses renew every 2 years (biennial).
• RN/APRN licenses expire January 31 of even-numbered years.

• There is no absolute 30-hour requirement for an APRN who maintains national certification.
• APRN renewal = RN license renewal + APRN authorization renewal.
• Continuing competency: choose one of five options (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 410-13-.01), including:
  • 30 CE hours from a Board-approved provider
  • Maintenance of national certification — which all Georgia APRNs must hold anyway, and is how most APRNs comply
• APRN authorization renewal requires renewing the RN license, an application, an attestation, and a fee — no additional CE hours specified (Rule 410-11-.03(6)).

• No fixed state-mandated pharmacology CE hour count in the Board of Nursing rules (chapters 410-11 and 410-13).
  • Vendor claims of '5 hours pharmacology for prescriptive authority' do not appear in any official Georgia rule and should be treated as unverified
• APRNs prescribing under a nurse protocol agreement must receive pharmacology training appropriate to the delegating physician's scope of practice at least annually — the delegating physician must ensure and document this (Georgia Composite Medical Board Rule 360-32-.05, updated rules effective May 25, 2026).
  • No specific hour count is attached

• 1 hour of CE biennially in the appropriate ordering and use of hydrocodone, oxycodone, and compounds thereof, required for APRNs authorized under their nurse protocol agreement to issue emergency prescriptions for those Schedule II drugs (O.C.G.A. §43-34-25(d.1), enacted by HB 557).
• Biennial CE on death-certificate documentation is also required if that delegation is in the protocol (HB 1046).
• The federal DEA MATE one-time 8-hour training applies to DEA registrants.

• Georgia splits oversight: the Board of Nursing licenses APRNs; the Composite Medical Board reviews the nurse protocol agreements that confer prescriptive authority (a physician-delegated model — Georgia has no independent APRN prescribing).
• For a PMHNP:
  • National certification maintenance (e.g., ANCC PMHNP-BC) satisfies the continuing-competency requirement
  • The annual pharmacology training obligation runs through the delegating physician, with no set hour count
  • The 1-hour hydrocodone/oxycodone CE applies only if the protocol includes emergency Schedule II authority
• Composite Medical Board rules under chapter 360-32 were updated effective May 25, 2026 — a recent change.

Official sources