South Carolina Nurse Practitioner license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

South Carolina nurse practitioners must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the South Carolina Board of Nursing (Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation). Nursing licenses, including advanced practice registered nurse licensure, renew biennially and expire April 30 of even numbered years. The renewal window for the cycle ending in 2026 opened February 1, 2026 and closed April 30, 2026; a renewal submitted after April 30 is subject to reinstatement requirements and additional fees. South Carolina also mandates specific subjects. Continuing education in pharmacotherapeutics: 20 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse practitioners who hold prescriptive authority). Prescribing controlled substances: 2 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse practitioners who hold controlled substance prescriptive authority).

South Carolina Nurse Practitioner 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.

South Carolina layers two separate obligations on a nurse practitioner. The base continued competency requirement in S.C. Code 40-33-40 applies to every nurse renewing an active license and is satisfied by documented evidence of at least one of four options during the licensure period: thirty contact hours from a board recognized continuing education provider, maintenance of national certification or recertification, completion of an academic program of study in nursing or a related field, or employer verification of competency and hours practiced. The thirty hour figure recorded here is the continuing education option; the other three are listed as alternatives. On top of that, S.C. Code 40-33-34 requires a nurse practitioner who holds prescriptive authority to complete twenty board acceptable continuing education contact hours every two years in pharmacotherapeutics, two of which must relate to prescribing controlled substances for a nurse practitioner with controlled substance prescriptive authority. The statute does not say whether those twenty pharmacotherapeutics hours may also be counted toward the thirty hour continued competency option, so a prescribing nurse practitioner should assume they are separate unless the board says otherwise. Section 40-33-34 also requires a nurse practitioner to achieve and maintain national certification in an advanced practice specialty recognized by the board, which means most nurse practitioners meet the base requirement through the certification option automatically. The forty five contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics with fifteen hours in controlled substances that appear in 40-33-34 are an entry requirement for the initial grant of prescriptive authority within the two years before application, not a renewal requirement, and are not recorded here.

Required CE topics for South Carolina nurse practitioners

State-specific subject mandates. Where a mandate applies only to some licensees, the scope is listed.

Documentation and audit

Common questions

How many CE hours does a South Carolina NP need to renew?

South Carolina nurse practitioners must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the South Carolina Board of Nursing (Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation). South Carolina layers two separate obligations on a nurse practitioner. The base continued competency requirement in S.C. Code 40-33-40 applies to every nurse renewing an active license and is satisfied by documented evidence of at least one of four options during the licensure period: thirty contact hours from a board recognized continuing education provider, maintenance of national certification or recertification, completion of an academic program of study in nursing or a related field, or employer verification of competency and hours practiced. The thirty hour figure recorded here is the continuing education option; the other three are listed as alternatives. On top of that, S.C. Code 40-33-34 requires a nurse practitioner who holds prescriptive authority to complete twenty board acceptable continuing education contact hours every two years in pharmacotherapeutics, two of which must relate to prescribing controlled substances for a nurse practitioner with controlled substance prescriptive authority. The statute does not say whether those twenty pharmacotherapeutics hours may also be counted toward the thirty hour continued competency option, so a prescribing nurse practitioner should assume they are separate unless the board says otherwise. Section 40-33-34 also requires a nurse practitioner to achieve and maintain national certification in an advanced practice specialty recognized by the board, which means most nurse practitioners meet the base requirement through the certification option automatically. The forty five contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics with fifteen hours in controlled substances that appear in 40-33-34 are an entry requirement for the initial grant of prescriptive authority within the two years before application, not a renewal requirement, and are not recorded here.

How often does a South Carolina NP license need to be renewed?

Nurse Practitioner licenses in South Carolina renew every two years. Nursing licenses, including advanced practice registered nurse licensure, renew biennially and expire April 30 of even numbered years. The renewal window for the cycle ending in 2026 opened February 1, 2026 and closed April 30, 2026; a renewal submitted after April 30 is subject to reinstatement requirements and additional fees.

What specific CE topics are required for South Carolina nurse practitioners?

Continuing education in pharmacotherapeutics: 20 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse practitioners who hold prescriptive authority). Prescribing controlled substances: 2 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse practitioners who hold controlled substance prescriptive authority). Citations: continuing education in pharmacotherapeutics (S.C. Code Ann. 40-33-34) and prescribing controlled substances (S.C. Code Ann. 40-33-34).

Sources

Last verified September 8, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.

• S.C. Code of Laws Title 40, Chapter 33, Nurses (Sections 40-33-34, 40-33-38 and 40-33-40)Statute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
• Renewals, South Carolina Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026
• Continuing Education, South Carolina Board of NursingState board page, accessed September 8, 2026

The topic key pharmacology is not on the canonical list and is used here for the pharmacotherapeutics requirement; controlled_substances is likewise non canonical and is used because the two hour requirement is written as controlled substance prescribing generally rather than opioids specifically. The board's own continuing education page carries its hour detail only inside PDFs, including Competency Requirement for Licensure and an FAQ for Nurses Continuing Education, which were not opened under the no download rule; the hour counts here therefore come from the statute, which states them plainly. Because 40-33-40 is written as a menu of four ways to demonstrate competency rather than a flat hour mandate, the thirty contact hour figure is the continuing education route and not an unconditional floor. The record covers the nurse practitioner role only; 40-33-34 uses the same twenty hour pharmacotherapeutics rule for nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists with prescriptive authority. No first renewal exemption, carryover rule, self study cap or retention period for nursing continuing education was found in the sources read.