Free CE for Nurses / Virginia
Virginia RNs must satisfy one of nine continued-competency options every 2 years — 30 contact hours of CE is the most common path, or 15 contact hours plus 640 hours of active practice.
✓ Verified against the Virginia Board of Nursing on July 30, 2026
Virginia does not impose a flat CE requirement. Under 18VAC90-19-160 you must complete at least one of nine qualifying activities each renewal cycle: hold current specialty certification from a national certifying organization; complete at least three credit hours of post-licensure academic coursework relevant to nursing at a regionally accredited college or university; complete a board-approved refresher course; complete a nursing-related evidence-based practice project or research study; publish as author or co-author during the cycle; teach or develop a nursing-related course worth at least three semester hours, a 15-week course, or specialty certification; teach or develop nursing CE courses for up to 30 contact hours; complete 15 contact hours plus 640 hours of active nursing practice; or complete 30 contact hours. A contact hour in Virginia is 50 minutes. Licenses renew biennially by the last day of your birth month, in even-numbered years if you were born in an even-numbered year and odd-numbered years if you were born in an odd-numbered year — so your renewal year follows your birth year, not a fixed schedule. You are exempt from continued competency for your first renewal after initial licensure by exam or endorsement. RNs who also hold an active nurse practitioner license follow 18VAC90-30-105 instead (plus 18VAC90-40-55 with prescriptive authority). Keep your documentation for two years after renewal and produce it within 30 days if the board audits you. Virginia currently mandates no specific CE subject for RNs, though the 2026 General Assembly directed the board to adopt a bias-reduction training requirement of up to two hours, counted within the existing total; that rule is not yet in effect and the board has not amended 18VAC90-19-160 or designated a subject area.
Yes — Virginia accepts continuing education from nationally accredited providers, so courses from an accredited provider like the ones on Pulse count toward your renewal.
One caveat: For the contact-hour pathways, 18VAC90-19-160(B) lists thirteen recognized approvers, and the American Nurses Credentialing Center is first among them. Virginia runs no separate state provider-approval program, so ANCC-accredited coursework needs no additional Virginia approval.
Virginia Board of Nursing
https://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Boards/Nursing/PractitionerResources/ContinuedCompetency/RNLPN/
Requirements change. Confirm all figures on the board site above before relying on them.
Pulse offers free, accredited CE for RNs and LPNs. Local healthcare organizations cover the cost — you pay nothing, and the hours apply toward your Virginia requirement (subject to the board rules above).
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