Documenting Contact Hours
or Academic Credit

You can select to document Continuing Education (CE, CEUs, CME, contact hours) or academic credit for your Recertification. Below is a brief overview with information on calculating contact hours and documenting this with the PNCB.

Basic Guidelines:

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.

• Must be earned within 24 months of submission of Recertification enrollment.

• Must be successfully completed.

• Cannot be the same as reported in a previous year. If, however, you attend a conference earning you more than the required amount of contact hours, you may apply the remainder the following year.

• CE or CME from journals, conferences, in-services, presentations, and grand rounds are all valid.

• Contact hours earned from a past PNCB Self-Assessment Exercise cannot be used. Use this CE for employers or state boards.

• CE or academic credit can also be combined with 200 clinical practice hours (all certifications), or 80 preceptor hours (CPNP-PC, CPNP-AC).

• Can come from a variety of agencies/providers.

For accepted content, suggested CE agencies/providers, and more details, see your individual certification:

CPN • Primary Care CPNP • Acute Care CPNP • Dually-certified CPNP

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.

How do I document this online?

On your online Recert application, you'll need to share the following:

Program Name
Dates Attended
Contact Hours

Eleven sections are available on your online Recert application, should you need that many to add up to 10.

Tips About Inputting CE Online:

• Only the required amount of hours should be entered: 5 or 10 depending on the option you selected. It's not necessary to enter all contact hours earned over the past two years. In fact, the online application may not have enough spaces for you to input all that you've earned.

• Contact hours may be provided by employers or state boards, and may be awarded from other health disciplines, such as social work and physical therapy, if applicable to pediatrics.

• Trouble inputting your contact hours? If you have CE in small increments or need more space than offered, you may consolidate your CE and shorten the program names, then email the detailed list to recert@pncb.org.

For example, contact hours earned in .25 increments over several dates can be combined like this:

Program Name: STD/HIV/MRSA/Teen Preg
Dates Attended: 4/1/08, 4/23/08, 1/11/09, 1/23/09
Contact Hours: 1

Does the PNCB 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.