Documentation of 10 Contact Hours
or Academic Credit

May be selected for 4 years of your 7-year cycle

Looking for suggestions for contact hour agencies? Need to calculate CMEs or CEUs to contact hours? Scroll down to find out more about this Recertification option.

Basic Guidelines:

Please read the following to help you determine acceptable content for this Acute Care Recertification option:

What is the difference between continuing education and contact hours? Continuing education includes lectures, seminars, conferences, online education, grand rounds, etc. that you attend as a learning exercise. Contact hours can be earned for attending a continuing education course. Typically 1 contact hour is equivalent to a 60-minute educational program. Organizations that offer continuing education must apply to an accrediting agency to award contact hours.

• Any educational programs which yield contact hours and are relevant to acute care pediatrics are suitable for this requirement.
• Topics do not have to include the term "acute" in their titles.
• College courses that yield either credit or continuing education hours in the area of acute care PNP practice will also be accepted.
• Contact hours received for completing a PALS course will not be accepted, as PALS is a requirement to sit for the exam.
• Academic credit course work must be successfully completed.
• Academic credit or contact hours can't be the same as reported in a previous year.
• Academic credit or contact hours must be earned within 24 months of submission of Recertification enrollment.
• Contact hours can come from a variety of agencies/providers.
• Contact hours earned through a previous PNCB Self-Assessment Exercise taken for Recertification cannot be used for this option.

Which contact hour agencies are accepted?

We've listed examples below, but this isn't a complete list. Basically, if the contact hours you earn are applicable to pediatrics, you may use it.

PALS hours are not eligible for Recertification. Contact hours from credentialing programs such as Advanced Pediatric/Cardiac/Trauma Life Support, Basic Trauma Life Support, or the Emergency Nurses Pediatric Course are applicable only when earned from the initial course.

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN)
• American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
• American Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) - Category 1 (AMA)
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
• Association for Woman's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
• Center for Disease Control (CDC)
• Emergency Nurses Association (ENA)
• International Board of Lactation Consultants (IBLC)
• National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN)
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)
• National League for Nursing (NLN)
• Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education (NPACE)
• State Nurses Associations/State Boards of Nursing (SNA/SBN)
• Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM)

Can I use the contact hours earned from SAEs?

If a PNCB SAE was used as a previous Recertification activity, the contact hours earned by completing the SAE for Recertification cannot be used for a contact hours option for another PNCB Recertification year. Feel free to use these contact hours earned for a state board of nursing or employer.

Do you need to see documentation?

Please do not mail us copies of your documentation. We'll only need to see these certificates if you are selected in our annual random audit. When you fill out your online or paper application, you will attest that the information you submitted is true.

Calculating Contact Hours

Continuing Education as CE, CME, CNE, etc. is awarded from an accredited provider and is typically 1 credit or contact hour equivalent to a 60-minute educational program.