North Carolina Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist license renewal and CE requirements
North Carolina nurse anesthetists must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Carolina Board of Nursing.
North Carolina does not issue a separate nurse anesthetist license or approval to practice. A nurse anesthetist holds a registered nurse license and renews it on the ordinary RN schedule. Under 21 NCAC 36 .0201(a) each registered nurse renews biennially with the Board no later than the last day of the licensee's birth month, by submitting a completed renewal application, attesting to completion of the continuing competence requirements in Rule .0232(b) and submitting evidence of completion if the Board requests it, and paying the renewal fee. It is the licensee's duty to keep a current mailing address, telephone number and email address on file with the Board.
Summary
North Carolina nurse anesthetists must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Carolina Board of Nursing. North Carolina does not issue a separate nurse anesthetist license or approval to practice. A nurse anesthetist holds a registered nurse license and renews it on the ordinary RN schedule. Under 21 NCAC 36 .0201(a) each registered nurse renews biennially with the Board no later than the last day of the licensee's birth month, by submitting a completed renewal application, attesting to completion of the continuing competence requirements in Rule .0232(b) and submitting evidence of completion if the Board requests it, and paying the renewal fee. It is the licensee's duty to keep a current mailing address, telephone number and email address on file with the Board.
North Carolina Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist renewal and continuing education rules
"Not stated" means the board's pages and rules we read do not address it. We do not fill in typical values.
| Renewal cycle | Two-year (24 months) |
|---|---|
| Renewal deadline | Tied to the licensee's birth month |
| Continuing education required | Yes |
| Hours per cycle | 30 contact hours |
| Self-study or online cap | No cap stated |
| Carryover to next cycle | Not stated |
| First renewal exempt | Not stated |
| Other accepted activities | National certification or re-certification related to the nurse's practice role by a national credentialing body recognized by the Board, which for a nurse anesthetist is the recertification a CRNA must already maintain; Completion of a Board-approved refresher course; Completion of a minimum of two semester hours of post-licensure academic education related to nursing practice; 15 contact hours plus a nursing project as principal or co-principal investigator, with a statement of the problem, objectives, methods and a summary of findings; 15 contact hours plus authoring or co-authoring a published nursing-related article, paper, book or book chapter; 15 contact hours plus designing, developing and conducting educational presentations totaling at least five contact hours for nurses or other health professionals; 15 contact hours plus 640 hours of active practice within the previous two years |
North Carolina does not set an advanced practice hour count for nurse anesthetists, because it does not credential them separately. The requirement is the continuing competence rule for every licensee, 21 NCAC 36 .0232. At renewal the licensee completes a self-assessment of practice covering professional responsibility, knowledge based practice, legal and ethical practice and collaborating with others, develops a plan for continued learning, and then selects and implements one of eight learning activity options. The 30 contact hour figure recorded here is option (b)(2), continuing education activities related to the nurse's practice, which is the plain hour based option. The other seven options are listed above. Because 21 NCAC 36 .0226(a) requires a nurse anesthetist to maintain recertification through the Council on Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists in order to perform nurse anesthesia activities at all, most North Carolina CRNAs will satisfy the continuing competence requirement through option (b)(1), national re-certification, rather than by counting hours. NBCRNA's own four year Continued Professional Certification credit totals are not adopted by North Carolina as a state figure, so no national total is recorded here.
Required CE topics for North Carolina certified registered nurse anesthetists
The North Carolina Board of Nursing pages and rules we read do not mandate specific subject areas for this license type. Hours may be in any approved subject.
Documentation and audit
| Proof submitted at renewal | No, attestation only |
|---|---|
| Keep records for | Not stated |
| Board audits compliance | Yes |
| Approved providers | 21 NCAC 36 .0232(c) specifies the evidence for each option rather than naming approved providers. For contact hours the evidence must show the licensee's name, the title of the educational activity, the name of the provider, the number of contact hours and the date. For national certification the evidence must be a copy of the certificate showing the licensee's name, the certifying body and the certification and expiration dates, and the certification must have been initially attained during the licensure period, in effect for the entire licensure period, or re-certified during the licensure period. The Board operates a voluntary approval process for continuing education programs under 21 NCAC 36 .0223. |
Common questions
- How many CE hours does a North Carolina CRNA need to renew?
- North Carolina nurse anesthetists must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Carolina Board of Nursing. North Carolina does not set an advanced practice hour count for nurse anesthetists, because it does not credential them separately. The requirement is the continuing competence rule for every licensee, 21 NCAC 36 .0232. At renewal the licensee completes a self-assessment of practice covering professional responsibility, knowledge based practice, legal and ethical practice and collaborating with others, develops a plan for continued learning, and then selects and implements one of eight learning activity options. The 30 contact hour figure recorded here is option (b)(2), continuing education activities related to the nurse's practice, which is the plain hour based option. The other seven options are listed above. Because 21 NCAC 36 .0226(a) requires a nurse anesthetist to maintain recertification through the Council on Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists in order to perform nurse anesthesia activities at all, most North Carolina CRNAs will satisfy the continuing competence requirement through option (b)(1), national re-certification, rather than by counting hours. NBCRNA's own four year Continued Professional Certification credit totals are not adopted by North Carolina as a state figure, so no national total is recorded here.
- How often does a North Carolina CRNA license need to be renewed?
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist licenses in North Carolina renew every two years. North Carolina does not issue a separate nurse anesthetist license or approval to practice. A nurse anesthetist holds a registered nurse license and renews it on the ordinary RN schedule. Under 21 NCAC 36 .0201(a) each registered nurse renews biennially with the Board no later than the last day of the licensee's birth month, by submitting a completed renewal application, attesting to completion of the continuing competence requirements in Rule .0232(b) and submitting evidence of completion if the Board requests it, and paying the renewal fee. It is the licensee's duty to keep a current mailing address, telephone number and email address on file with the Board.
- Does North Carolina require specific CE topics for nurse anesthetists?
- The North Carolina Board of Nursing does not list mandated subject areas for CRNA renewal on the pages we verified; the 30 contact hours may be in any approved subject.
- Do North Carolina nurse anesthetists have to submit CE certificates at renewal?
- Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates and the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation. 21 NCAC 36 .0232(c) specifies the evidence for each option rather than naming approved providers. For contact hours the evidence must show the licensee's name, the title of the educational activity, the name of the provider, the number of contact hours and the date. For national certification the evidence must be a copy of the certificate showing the licensee's name, the certifying body and the certification and expiration dates, and the certification must have been initially attained during the licensure period, in effect for the entire licensure period, or re-certified during the licensure period. The Board operates a voluntary approval process for continuing education programs under 21 NCAC 36 .0223.
Sources
Last verified September 8, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.
- 21 NCAC 36 .0232, Continuing CompetenceStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
- 21 NCAC 36 .0226, Nurse Anesthesia PracticeStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
- 21 NCAC 36 .0201, Biennial RenewalStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
- 21 NCAC 36 .0223, Continuing Education ProgramsStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
North Carolina is a clear case of the trap that a CRNA is not a nurse practitioner with a different title. A North Carolina nurse practitioner needs approval to practice from the Joint Subcommittee of the Medical Board and the Board of Nursing, renewed annually by the last day of the birth month, and owes 50 contact hours of continuing education every two years under 21 NCAC 36 .0807 with at least 20 of those within the national certification. None of that reaches a nurse anesthetist. The only rule that addresses nurse anesthetists is 21 NCAC 36 .0226, and it does not create a credential: it provides that only a registered nurse who completes a program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs, is credentialed as a certified registered nurse anesthetist by the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists, and who maintains recertification through the Council on Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists, may perform nurse anesthesia activities, in collaboration with a physician, dentist, podiatrist or other lawfully qualified health care provider. The state requirement for a nurse anesthetist is therefore the registered nurse renewal and continuing competence requirement, plus maintenance of national recertification as a practice condition. National recertification is both a condition of practicing nurse anesthesia and an accepted continuing competence option, which is why it appears in both places in this record. The Board's own site at ncbon.com is behind Cloudflare and returned a 403 to every automated request, including https://www.ncbon.com/aprn-certified-registered-nurse-anesthetist; nothing from that host is cited here. All values were read as HTML from the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, which publishes the official North Carolina Administrative Code. The mandatory topics list is empty because Chapter 36 sets no subject specific hour mandate for nurses. Retention years and the audit sampling method are not stated in the rules read; the rule requires evidence to be submitted if the Board requests it.
Provided for general reference. Requirements change through legislative sessions and rulemaking, so confirm with the North Carolina Board of Nursing before relying on them for a renewal. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.