North Dakota Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist license renewal and CE requirements
North Dakota nurse anesthetists must complete 12 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Dakota Board of Nursing.
North Dakota licenses the nurse anesthetist as an advanced practice registered nurse, and the license is renewed on a two year cycle. The board measures the continuing education and practice requirements against the expiration date printed on the license, and states that late renewal occurs the January following the license expiration. The board pages that were read do not state the calendar expiration date, so check the date on your own license or in the Nurse Portal. All renewals are filed online through the Nurse Portal; paper applications are no longer accepted. Allow three to five business days after renewal for the updated expiration date to appear on the board's verification site. Nursing practice for relicensure must meet or exceed 400 hours within the preceding four years.
Summary
North Dakota nurse anesthetists must complete 12 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Dakota Board of Nursing. North Dakota licenses the nurse anesthetist as an advanced practice registered nurse, and the license is renewed on a two year cycle. The board measures the continuing education and practice requirements against the expiration date printed on the license, and states that late renewal occurs the January following the license expiration. The board pages that were read do not state the calendar expiration date, so check the date on your own license or in the Nurse Portal. All renewals are filed online through the Nurse Portal; paper applications are no longer accepted. Allow three to five business days after renewal for the updated expiration date to appear on the board's verification site. Nursing practice for relicensure must meet or exceed 400 hours within the preceding four years. North Dakota also mandates specific subjects. Pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practice: 15 contact hours every renewal cycle (advanced practice registered nurses who hold North Dakota prescriptive authority). Hours do not carry over between cycles and the first renewal is exempt.
North Dakota 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 | Board-specific schedule |
| Continuing education required | Yes |
| Hours per cycle | 12 contact hours |
| Self-study or online cap | No cap stated |
| Carryover to next cycle | No |
| First renewal exempt | Yes |
| Other accepted activities | Coursework at an accredited college or university, at 15 contact hours per academic semester hour or 10 contact hours per academic quarter hour; Publication during the renewal time frame of one article related to nursing practice in a refereed journal, one book chapter, or a published research project, which may be submitted for the full 12 contact hours; Participation as a presenter or lecturer on content related to nursing practice, up to 6 contact hours, where the presentation is outside the normal duties of the position and approved for contact hours |
North Dakota applies one hour count to every nurse. To renew a license a licensee must demonstrate successful completion of 12 contact hours of continuing education within the preceding two years, and a licensee who earns more than 12 cannot apply the excess to a future period. One contact hour equals 60 minutes of instruction, one continuing medical education credit or 0.1 continuing education unit. An advanced practice registered nurse who holds prescriptive authority must instead complete 15 contact hours of pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practice during the previous two years, and the board states that those contact hours fulfill the registered nurse renewal continuing education requirement rather than adding to it. Whether that 15 hour figure reaches a particular nurse anesthetist depends on whether the nurse holds North Dakota prescriptive authority, which the board treats as a separate license category with its own fee. A nurse anesthetist who does not hold prescriptive authority owes the 12 hours. NBCRNA's own four year Continued Professional Certification credit totals are not adopted by North Dakota as a state figure, so no national total is recorded here.
Required CE topics for North Dakota certified registered nurse anesthetists
State-specific subject mandates. Where a mandate applies only to some licensees, the scope is listed.
| Topic | Hours | Frequency | Applies to | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practiceThe board states that certificates must itemize pharmacology continuing education and that UpToDate activity certificates do not satisfy the pharmacology specific requirement. These 15 hours replace rather than add to the 12 contact hour general requirement. The board's own FAQ puts it plainly: LPNs and RNs are not required to obtain continuing education in specific areas, and APRNs with prescriptive authority need 15 hours in pharmacology. The topic key is not one of the canonical keys in the schema description. | 15 contact hours | Every renewal | advanced practice registered nurses who hold North Dakota prescriptive authority | NDAC 54-05-03.1-11 |
Documentation and audit
| Proof submitted at renewal | No, attestation only |
|---|---|
| Keep records for | 4 years |
| Board audits compliance | Yes |
| Approved providers | Board recognized providers are the North Dakota Board of Nursing, an accredited college or university, a health care regulatory board, and a professional organization that is nationally accredited to approve continuing education. Acceptable subject matter is social, legal and ethical aspects of nursing practice, content related to nursing practice, quality assurance, accrediting or regulation standards and processes, and courses required for progression in a nursing program. Basic life support and CPR classes, shortened advanced life support recertification courses, repeated activities within a reporting period, agency orientation or in-service programs, unapproved self-directed independent study, community service, administrative or disciplinary continuing education, professional organization membership, and UpToDate activity certificates do not count. |
Common questions
- How many CE hours does a North Dakota CRNA need to renew?
- North Dakota nurse anesthetists must complete 12 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the North Dakota Board of Nursing. North Dakota applies one hour count to every nurse. To renew a license a licensee must demonstrate successful completion of 12 contact hours of continuing education within the preceding two years, and a licensee who earns more than 12 cannot apply the excess to a future period. One contact hour equals 60 minutes of instruction, one continuing medical education credit or 0.1 continuing education unit. An advanced practice registered nurse who holds prescriptive authority must instead complete 15 contact hours of pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practice during the previous two years, and the board states that those contact hours fulfill the registered nurse renewal continuing education requirement rather than adding to it. Whether that 15 hour figure reaches a particular nurse anesthetist depends on whether the nurse holds North Dakota prescriptive authority, which the board treats as a separate license category with its own fee. A nurse anesthetist who does not hold prescriptive authority owes the 12 hours. NBCRNA's own four year Continued Professional Certification credit totals are not adopted by North Dakota as a state figure, so no national total is recorded here.
- How often does a North Dakota CRNA license need to be renewed?
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist licenses in North Dakota renew every two years. North Dakota licenses the nurse anesthetist as an advanced practice registered nurse, and the license is renewed on a two year cycle. The board measures the continuing education and practice requirements against the expiration date printed on the license, and states that late renewal occurs the January following the license expiration. The board pages that were read do not state the calendar expiration date, so check the date on your own license or in the Nurse Portal. All renewals are filed online through the Nurse Portal; paper applications are no longer accepted. Allow three to five business days after renewal for the updated expiration date to appear on the board's verification site. Nursing practice for relicensure must meet or exceed 400 hours within the preceding four years.
- What specific CE topics are required for North Dakota nurse anesthetists?
- Pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practice: 15 contact hours every renewal cycle (advanced practice registered nurses who hold North Dakota prescriptive authority). Citations: pharmacotherapy education related to scope of practice (NDAC 54-05-03.1-11).
- Do North Dakota nurse anesthetists have to submit CE certificates at renewal?
- Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates, the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation, and records must be kept for 4 years. Board recognized providers are the North Dakota Board of Nursing, an accredited college or university, a health care regulatory board, and a professional organization that is nationally accredited to approve continuing education. Acceptable subject matter is social, legal and ethical aspects of nursing practice, content related to nursing practice, quality assurance, accrediting or regulation standards and processes, and courses required for progression in a nursing program. Basic life support and CPR classes, shortened advanced life support recertification courses, repeated activities within a reporting period, agency orientation or in-service programs, unapproved self-directed independent study, community service, administrative or disciplinary continuing education, professional organization membership, and UpToDate activity certificates do not count.
- Is the first North Dakota CRNA renewal exempt from CE?
- Yes. North Dakota does not require continuing education for a CRNA's first renewal.
Sources
Last verified September 8, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.
- Continuing Education for Renewal, North Dakota Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026
- Renew or Reactivate Your Nursing License, North Dakota Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026
- Nursing Renewal FAQs, North Dakota Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026
- North Dakota Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026
North Dakota applies a shared rule rather than a CRNA specific one. The board's continuing education page and renewal FAQ speak of licensees and of APRNs with prescriptive authority, never of a role, so a nurse anesthetist owes the same 12 contact hours as any other nurse and the same 15 pharmacotherapy hours only if the nurse holds prescriptive authority. That prescriptive authority condition is the reason this record differs in scope from North Dakota's nurse practitioner record, where the pharmacotherapy layer is the norm; the board's fee schedule lists Advanced Practice RN and Advanced Practice RN with RX Authority as separate renewal categories, so the two are not the same thing for a nurse anesthetist. The first renewal exemption is the board's statement that an applicant who obtained initial licensure through examination does not need to complete any contact hours before the first renewal, and an applicant reactivating a license may use refresher course contact hours for the first renewal cycle after reactivation. Retention is recorded as four years from the board's wording that the licensee must retain original certificates of completion for not less than two renewal cycles, each of which is two years. Continuing education completed after December 31 in the year of renewal is assessed a fee of fifty dollars per contact hour. The board does not issue extensions and states that failure to meet the requirement may result in disciplinary action. The calendar expiration date and the underlying rules NDAC 54-02-05-08 and 54-05-03.1-11 could not be read: the North Dakota Legislative Branch publishes the administrative code only as PDF files, which the no download rule excludes. Whether North Dakota requires evidence of current NBCRNA certification at renewal could not be confirmed from a page that was read; the board's recognized APRN certifications page returned a 404 after a site redesign.
Provided for general reference. Requirements change through legislative sessions and rulemaking, so confirm with the North Dakota Board of Nursing before relying on them for a renewal. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.