Texas Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

Renewal cycle

2 years (biennial)

Total CE hours

20 contact hours of continuing nursing education in the nurse's area of practice per licensing period, OR achievement/maintenance/renewal of a Board-approved national nursing certification (22 TAC 216.3). All nurses must also complete a human trafficking prevention course each renewal, and 2 hours of nursing jurisprudence/ethics every third licensing period.

Pharmacology CE

5 contact hours of CE in pharmacotherapeutics per licensing period for any APRN who holds prescriptive authority — these are IN ADDITION to the base 20 hours, and national certification may NOT be used to satisfy them (22 TAC 216.3(c)(3)). Category I CME may be used.

Controlled-substance CE

APRNs with prescriptive authority who prescribe controlled substances must complete 3 additional contact hours related to prescribing controlled substances per licensing period (on top of the 20 + 5, i.e., 28 total). Additionally, an APRN whose prescriptive authority agreement authorizes opioid prescribing must complete at least 2 hours annually (4 per biennium) on safe and effective pain management related to opioids/controlled substances (22 TAC 216.3(c)(4), from HB 2454 (2019)).

Good to know

Verified from the Texas BON's official continuing-education page (fetched directly) plus the TAC 216.3 text. Texas is the heaviest pharm-CE state in this batch: a prescribing PMHNP needs 20 base + 5 pharmacotherapeutics + 3 controlled-substance = 28 hours per biennium, plus the annual 2-hour opioid pain-management CE if the prescriptive authority agreement covers opioids. The 3-hour controlled-substance add-on is a newer provision — older vendor summaries citing only 25 total hours are out of date.

Official sources