CME for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants

All NPs and PAs are required to complete a minimum amount of continuing medical education (CME) credits during each licensing cycle.  Each certifying board has it’s own requirements, and this can make things a little confusing.

American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)

The AAPA requires that physician assistants earn at least 100 CME credits every two years, including at least 50 category 1 credits.  The AAPA classifies credit types into two categories.
Category 1 includes essentially any CME activity that has either been approved by the AAPA as category 1, or has received its accreditation from the American Osteopathic Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, The Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Physician Assistant Certification Council of Canada, and the European Union of Medical Specialists / European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Category 2, on the other hand, is any activity related to medicine, patient care, or other professional issues.  This includes reading medical journals or texts, attending meetings provided by pharmaceutical companies that are promotional, and clinical research on the internet.

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

The AANP requires that nurse practitioners earn at least 100 CME credits every five years, 25 of which must be in the area of pharmacology.  The AANP does allow up to 25 of the non-pharmacology hours to be claimed for precepting students.

American Nurses Credentialing Center

The ANCC requires that nurse practitioners earn at least 75 CME credits, 25 of which must be in the area of pharmacology.  The ANCC also has developed seven categories, other than CME, that nurse practitioners may choose from in order to meet certification renewal requirements.  See the above link for more details on this.