New Jersey Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

• The APN certificate renews on a 2-year (biennial) cycle.

• 30 contact hours per biennial period — APNs complete the same 30-hour CE requirement as RN license renewal (N.J.A.C. 13:37-5.3, applied via N.J.A.C. 13:37-7.8) — PLUS whatever your national certifying agency requires for recertification.
• Mandated within the 30 hours:
  • At least 1 hour on prescription opioid drugs — alternatives to opioids, and risks/signs of abuse, addiction, and diversion (each biennium since June 1, 2020)
  • 2 hours related to end-of-life care
  • One-time 1 hour on organ/tissue donation and recovery
• Up to 15 excess contact hours may carry into the next biennium.

• No recurring state pharmacology hour quota within the biennial 30 — NJ largely defers ongoing pharmacology competence to national certification maintenance.
• State pharmacology-specific requirements that do exist:
  • 6 contact hours of CE in pharmacology related to controlled dangerous substances, tied to CDS prescriptive authority (see controlled-substance section)
  • The 1-hour opioid topic each biennium
• For initial certification: 39 pharmacology hours in the graduate program, or 30 contact hours if the pharmacology course is more than 5 years old (N.J.A.C. 13:37-7.2).

• To prescribe controlled dangerous substances, an APN must complete 6 contact hours of CE in pharmacology related to controlled substances (N.J.S.A. 45:11-49, as amended by P.L.2017, c.28), covering:
  • Addiction prevention and management
  • Responsible opioid prescribing
  • Alternatives to opioids
  • Risks and signs of opioid abuse, addiction, and diversion
• These 6 hours are in addition to the Board's other pharmacology requirements, and are generally treated as one-time, tied to CDS registration — the statute itself does not state a recurrence interval.
• Every renewing licensee also needs the 1-hour opioid CE within the 30 hours.
• DEA registrants: one-time 8-hour federal DEA MATE Act training.

• NJ requires maintained national certification (e.g., ANCC PMHNP-BC) — that certification's own 25-pharmacology-hour recertification rule effectively supplies your pharmacology CE.
• The 6-hour CDS pharmacology requirement is statutory and additional to the Board's pharmacology requirements.

Official sources