Vermont Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

Renewal cycle

2 years (biennial, fixed licensing periods)

Total CE hours

No fixed CE-hour requirement for APRNs. Renewal (Board of Nursing Rules 4-8(d) and 9-7, May 2023) requires: satisfying RN renewal (400 practice hours in 2 years OR 960 in 5 years OR 20 hours of qualifying CE OR current national certification), PLUS 400 hours (50 days) of APRN-role practice in the preceding 2 years (or 960 hours in 5 years), PLUS current certification by a national APRN certifying body, PLUS a collaborating provider agreement if still in transition-to-practice.

Pharmacology CE

None. The Board of Nursing administrative rules contain no pharmacology-specific CE hour requirement for APRN renewal; ongoing pharmacology competence is deferred to national certification maintenance.

Controlled-substance CE

2 hours of CE on controlled-substance prescribing per 2-year renewal for APRNs who prescribe controlled substances / hold or have applied for a DEA registration (topics: abuse and diversion, safe use, storage and disposal of controlled substances, and appropriate use of the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System). This mirrors the statutory 2-hour requirement applied to Vermont prescribers generally.

Good to know

Renewal-cycle, practice-hour, and certification requirements verified directly from the full text of the Board's Administrative Rules (May 11, 2023 edition, Rules 4-3, 4-8, 9-7). The 2-hour controlled-substance CE is NOT in the nursing administrative rules themselves — it derives from Vermont's prescriber CE statute/VPMS requirements and is stated on OPR renewal materials; it was corroborated by multiple reputable secondary sources (NetCE, CEUfast, nursece4less) but the OPR renewal page itself blocked automated access, hence medium confidence for that element (other elements are high confidence). APRNs with under 24 months/2,400 hours in the role must maintain a collaborative provider agreement.

Official sources