South Carolina Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

Renewal cycle

2 years (biennial)

Total CE hours

For the underlying RN/APRN license, competency must be demonstrated by ONE of several options each biennium (e.g., 30 contact hours of CE, OR current national certification/recertification, OR employer certification of competency, OR completion of an academic program). APRNs must maintain current national certification in their role/specialty (which typically satisfies the competency option). The binding recurring hour requirement for prescribers is the pharmacotherapeutics CE below.

Pharmacology CE

20 contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics education within the 2 years preceding renewal, required to renew prescriptive authority (S.C. Nurse Practice Act §40-33-34(F)). Initial prescriptive-authority applicants need 45 hours of pharmacotherapeutics (15 in controlled substances); applicants already holding prescriptive authority in another state need 20 hours (15 in controlled substances).

Controlled-substance CE

2 of the 20 biennial pharmacotherapeutics hours must be related to prescribing controlled substances (for APRNs with controlled-substance prescriptive authority), per §40-33-34 as amended in 2018. The Board accepts ACCME-, ACPE-, AAFP-, AANP-, ANCC-approved providers for these hours.

Good to know

Numbers confirmed from official LLR Board of Nursing documents (position statement and prescriptive-authority instructions) implementing §40-33-34(E)-(F). The 2018 practice-act overhaul (Act 234) set the 20-hr/2-yr pharmacotherapeutics + 2-hr controlled-substances structure. Applies to PMHNPs the same as other NPs; pharmacotherapeutics CE should be relevant to the APRN's practice area. SC is an NLC state for RN licensure; APRN recognition and prescriptive authority are SC-specific.

Official sources