Kentucky CE Requirements for License Renewal
As a nurse in the state of Kentucky, you are required to earn continuing education to renew your active license. All of our CE activities are accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Renewal Requirements
RN
- Every year
- 14 hours of continuing education
- Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) credentialed nurses: 5 hours of approved sexual assault CE each licensure period. (Forensic medicine or domestic violence CE will meet this requirement)
- One-time requirements
- NEW as of July 15, 2024: 1 hour related to Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia to include: warning signs and symptoms, early detection, diagnosis, communication techniques, patient cognition assessment tools, current treatments. Required for all nurses.
- For candidates educated outside of Kentucky (within 3 years of licensure) or those who graduated before May 1998
- 3 hours related to domestic violence
- For candidates educated outside of Kentucky (within 3 years of licensure) or those who graduated before December 2011
- 1.5 hours on pediatric abusive head trauma
- 2 hours in suicide prevention
- 1 contact hour that addresses:
- Chronic toxic stress and secondary traumatic stress potentially increasing the incidence of suicide amongst nurses;
- A confidential and standardized pathway to care for nurses that addresses screening, assessing, safety planning, referrals, and follow-up for nurses at risk for suicide;
- Systems of care, evidence-informed approaches, and best practices to reduce suicide rates; and
- Ethical legal considerations for caring for patients and nurses who are suicidal.
- 1 contact hour in suicide prevention generally
Nurses who hold an active license on July 1, 2022 must complete the suicide prevention and implicit bias contact hours by July 1, 2023. Nurses who obtain a license by examination, endorsement, or reinstatement after July 1, 2022 must complete these hours within 3 years of licensure. RNs and LPNs may apply these contact hours to their annual CE requirements for the earning period in which they are completed. APRNs will not be able to apply these hours to their annual CE requirements, as they do not include pharmacology content.
LPN
- Every year
- 14 hours of continuing education
- One-time requirements
- For candidates educated outside of Kentucky (within 3 years of licensure) or those who graduated before May 1998
- 3 hours related to domestic violence (one-time requirement)
- For candidates educated outside of Kentucky (within 3 years of licensure) or those who graduated before December 2011
- 1.5 hours on pediatric abusive head trauma (one-time requirement)
- 2 hours in suicide prevention, as above
- Infusion Therapy by an LPN
- Must be completed by nurses educated outside of Kentucky and nurses who were admitted to a Kentucky program of nursing prior to September 15, 2019.
- Must be completed prior to performing infusion therapy.
- This course may be applied to the continuing education required for the earning period in which it is completed.
Advanced Practice
- Every year
- 14 hours of continuing education as required to renew RN license. An APRN's board certification satisfies the 14 contact hour requirement for RN license renewal if the APRN certification was initially attained during the licensure period, has been in effect during the entire licensure period, or has been renewed during the licensure period.
- All APRNs must complete the following each licensure period:
- 5 hours in pharmacology (drug-specific information, safe prescribing practices, safe medication administration, prescribing methodologies, new regulations)
- APRNs with DEA-X registration need 3 of the 5 required pharmacology hours should be in pain management or addiction disorders. The same CE certificates may be applied to all three of the requirements listed above.
- One-time requirement (may not be applied to annual CE requirements)
- 2 hours in suicide prevention, as above
- 1.5 hours in implicit bias, as above
- Beginning January 1, 2025, APRNs with authorization to provide certifications for the use of medicinal cannabis much complete 3 contact hours in the following:
- Diagnosing qualifying medical conditions
- Treating qualifying medical conditions with medicinal cannabis
- Pharmacological characteristis of medicinal cannabis and possible drug interactions
- Indications of cannabis use disorder
Visit the Kentucky Board of Nursing for more information on your renewal requirements. Here’s the link to a handy chart of Kentucky Board of Nursing CE Requirements.
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