Florida Nursing CEU Requirements and How CE Broker Works

Who has to complete continuing education in Florida?

Florida runs two systems under the Board of Nursing. Registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) complete continuing education, counted in contact hours, to renew their licence. Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) complete in-service training instead, with a separate topic list. Both run on a two-year cycle, which the rules call a biennium.

A contact hour is 60 minutes, and a half-hour counts as 0.5. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) fall outside this guide: they have extra requirements, including at least three hours on prescribing controlled substances. If you work here on another state’s compact licence, see the questions at the end.

When is your renewal? Cycles and renewal groups

Each licence expires at midnight Eastern time on a fixed date, and hours count only if you complete them inside the cycle you are renewing. Surplus hours do not carry over to the next biennium, according to CE Broker’s Florida nursing FAQ.

The Renew My License option appears in your MQA Services account no later than 90 days before your expiry date. RNs renew in three groups and CNAs in two, while LPNs currently share a single date. The Board’s RN renewal page (opens in a new tab), LPN renewal page (opens in a new tab) and CNA page show these expiry dates today:

• RN Group 1: 30 April 2028
• RN Group 2: 31 July 2028
• RN Group 3: 30 April 2027
• LPN: 31 July 2027
• CNA Group 1: 31 May 2027
• CNA Group 2: 31 May 2028

What are the mandatory CE courses for Florida nurses?

Some of your hours are fixed by law and rule. The Board publishes one subject list for both RNs and LPNs, reproduced below as published. Every mandatory course must come from a Florida Board of Nursing approved provider, with one exception: the human trafficking course need not be Board-approved, though it must cover the content that section 464.013 of the Florida Statutes sets out.

Two frequencies catch people out. Recognizing Impairment in the Workplace is due every other renewal. Domestic violence is due every third biennium, and CE Broker’s FAQ explains that each nurse’s third biennium is their own — there is no common year for the whole profession.

You may see human trafficking quoted as one hour. That figure belongs to a general health-professions statute, section 456.0341, whose list of professions does not include nursing. For nurses the course is two hours, under section 464.013(3)(c) and the Board’s rule.

Last checked 18 September 2026 — confirm on the Board's renewal page and in your CE Broker account.

How many CE hours do Florida nurses need?

The honest answer is a formula rather than one number. Rule 64B9-5.002 requires one contact hour for each calendar month of your licensure cycle, and treats the mandatory courses as part of those hours rather than extra. Over a full two-year cycle that comes to 24, the figure the Board’s renewal pages use, and the Board’s table shows 16 general hours alongside the mandatory subjects.

Three things move your own number. Domestic violence adds two hours in the biennium you complete it. The rule lists it with the other mandatory courses, but the Board’s page puts it on top of the 24, and section 456.031 backs the Board: it lets a board count the course inside its total only where the requirement is 30 hours or more. A first licence is usually exempt or prorated, as the next section explains. And in a renewal when the impairment course is not due, the rule’s monthly total still applies, so those two hours are made up with other courses rather than dropped.

Commercial CE sites quote a range of totals. Where one disagrees with the Board’s renewal page or your CE Broker account, go with the Board and CE Broker.

First renewal, prorating and exemptions

If you were licensed by examination during the current biennium, the Board’s page says you are exempt from general hours at your first renewal. You still owe nine hours of mandatory subjects: 2 of medical errors, 2 of Florida laws and rules, 2 of Recognizing Impairment in the Workplace, 2 of human trafficking and 1 of HIV/AIDS. The rule words this exemption more broadly than the Board’s page, so plan around the page. It is the stricter reading.

Nurses licensed by endorsement who sat the exam in another state during the same biennium are treated the same way. Beyond that, a first licence issued for less than 24 months is prorated at one hour for each month it was valid, and those hours must include the mandatory subjects. CE Broker’s FAQ adds that your first period runs from your licence date to your first assigned expiry date.

Two further exemptions exist. A nurse certified through a specialty programme accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies or the Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification is exempt from continuing education, but must report the certification in CE Broker and still complete the 2-hour human trafficking course. A nurse whose spouse’s Armed Forces duties took them away from Florida is exempt on proof of the absence and the spouse’s military status.

Florida CNA in-service hours

CNAs must complete at least 24 hours of in-service training each biennium, finished before you submit the renewal application. If you were certified partway through a biennium, the requirement is prorated to one hour a month, from your certification month to the end of the biennium.

Two other conditions sit alongside the hours. The Board’s CNA renewal page (opens in a new tab) says you must have performed nursing-related services for pay within the last 24 consecutive months to stay on the registry. And rule 64B9-15.011 makes you keep your in-service records for four years and produce them if audited. Do not send certificates to the Board.

In-service at work is not automatically the same thing. Federal rules require nursing homes to give aides at least 12 hours of in-service a year, including dementia management and abuse prevention. Ask your employer which of the Board’s topics its sessions cover, how they are documented, and whether they will appear in CE Broker.

Each biennium, your hours must include the areas below. Once they are covered, health care career and technical courses at a college, university or approved nursing programme can make up the rest.

• Bloodborne Pathogens, Infection Control
• Domestic Violence
• Medical Record Documentation and Legal Aspects Appropriate to Nursing Assistants
• Resident Rights
• Communication with Cognitively Impaired Clients
• CPR Skills
• Medical Error Prevention and Safety

How CE Broker tracks hours for Florida nurses

CE Broker is the Florida Department of Health’s continuing education tracking system. At renewal the Department reviews your record there. If it is complete, you renew without interruption; if not, you are prompted to enter the missing hours before you can go on. CE Broker’s FAQ puts it more bluntly: without the hours, you cannot sign the renewal attestation.

Hours arrive by two routes. Under rule 64B-5.002, every Florida Board-approved provider must report your completion within 30 days, giving its provider number, the course and its tracking number, the completion date and your licence number, and listing any subject hours mandated by law. Courses from a nationally recognised organisation that does not report to Florida are yours to self-report before renewal, and the same rule bars any fee for doing so.

Do not self-report a course that a Board-approved provider is going to report. CE Broker’s FAQ warns that duplicate entries undermine the electronic audit. Self-reporting is for genuine gaps.

Provider tracking numbers in CE Broker typically begin with 50- and course numbers with 20-. Jude Health Institute is a CE Broker provider, and our provider number is 50-46278. Whoever the provider, confirm a course counts for your licence type before you pay. Our continuing education courses are not open yet; the CEU catalogue lists what is planned and takes interest-list enquiries.

If you do need to self-report, the process runs like this:

1. 1Have your certificate of completion to hand. Some reporting options will not let you continue without attaching it.
2. 2Log in and choose Report CE. If you hold more than one licence, select the right one — a credit has to be reported to each licence separately.
3. 3Pick the reporting option that matches the activity and how it was approved. The Learn More notes explain each one.
4. 4Answer the questions from your certificate: completion date, hours, provider and course name. If a search for the provider or course finds nothing, it may not be approved for that subject.
5. 5Attach the certificate, or choose to keep your own documentation where that option is offered. Then attest and submit. Self-reported credit shows in your Course History straight away.

How to read your CE Broker account

What you see depends on your account type. The free Basic account (opens in a new tab) shows a compliance status of Complete or Not Complete, a Requirements tab and your Course History.

The Requirements tab is an outline of what your cycle requires, not a live tally, so on a Basic account you do the matching yourself. The paid tiers add a Compliance Transcript that calculates it for you — required hours, what is still needed and which subjects are outstanding. CE Broker’s Florida FAQ describes this as your Required, Posted and Needed hours.

On a Basic account, work through these checks:

• The cycle dates on the Requirements tab. Courses completed outside them will not count.
• Each subject area and the hours it needs.
• Every course in your Course History — click into each one to see which subject area it was actually awarded.
• Any warning icon in Course History, which flags a course that is not yet counting towards your requirements.

Audits and common mistakes

The Department’s auditing unit selects licensees at random, using a statistical formula based on the number of licensees and the previous biennium’s compliance rates. If your CE Broker record is compliant, you pass what CE Broker calls the electronic audit and receive no audit letter. If it is not, you will be asked for evidence.

That is why certificates matter, even though you should not send them to the Board or to CE Broker unless asked. The nursing CE rules we read set no retention period for RNs and LPNs, so keeping certificates for at least two cycles is a sensible habit.

Most renewal problems come from a short list:

• Treating a certificate as proof the hours posted. Only the CE Broker record counts.
• Giving a provider a wrong or old licence number, so a correct report never reaches you.
• Repeating a course within one biennium. CE Broker’s FAQ says the repeat earns no credit.
• Counting workplace orientation. The Board’s definitions rule says orientation to an employer’s policies, procedures and facilities does not meet the requirement.

Checklist before you renew

Run through this with weeks in hand, not days. Fixing a missing report depends on someone else acting, and that takes time.

• Confirm your expiry date and renewal group on the Board’s renewal page for your licence type.
• Check that the licence number and type on your CE Broker account are yours.
• Work out whether this renewal is your first, an impairment year, or your third biennium for domestic violence.
• Run the Requirements tab checks above until your status reads Complete.
• Read the rest of the renewal page. The Board currently flags fingerprinting and background screening requirements, including electronic fingerprinting under House Bill 975 (2024).

Sources

1. 1Florida Board of Nursing — Registered Nurse renewal: renewal groups, CE subject table, first-renewal exemption, prorating, delinquency and compact rules (opens in a new tab)
2. 2Florida Board of Nursing — Licensed Practical Nurse renewal: expiry date and CE subject table (opens in a new tab)
3. 3Florida Board of Nursing — Certified Nursing Assistant renewal: renewal groups, in-service topics and the 24-month work requirement (opens in a new tab)
4. 4Florida Board of Nursing — continuing education: electronic CE review at renewal and CE Broker account types (opens in a new tab)
5. 5Florida Department of Health — CE tracking is powered by CE Broker, and incomplete records must be completed before renewal (opens in a new tab)
6. 6Florida Administrative Code R. 64B9-5.002 — one contact hour per month of the cycle, mandatory subjects and their frequency, and exemptions (opens in a new tab)
7. 7Florida Administrative Code R. 64B9-5.001 — definitions, including the 60-minute contact hour and the exclusion of orientation (opens in a new tab)
8. 8Florida Administrative Code R. 64B-5.002 — provider reporting within 30 days, required completion data, and fee-free licensee self-reporting (opens in a new tab)
9. 9Florida Administrative Code R. 64B9-15.011 — CNA in-service training: 24 hours per biennium, required areas, prorating and four-year record keeping (opens in a new tab)
10. 10Florida Statutes s. 464.013 (2025) — nursing CE of up to 30 hours biennially, the specialty certification exemption, APRN controlled-substance hours and the 2-hour human trafficking course (opens in a new tab)
11. 11Florida Statutes s. 456.031 (2025) — 2-hour domestic violence course every third biennial renewal, and when it may count inside the total (opens in a new tab)
12. 12Florida Statutes s. 456.013 (2025) — 2-hour prevention of medical errors course at each biennial renewal (opens in a new tab)
13. 13Florida Statutes s. 456.0341 (2025) — 1-hour human trafficking course for listed professions, which do not include nursing (opens in a new tab)
14. 14Laws of Florida ch. 2026-82 — 2-hour human trafficking course required before the NCLEX from 1 July 2027 (opens in a new tab)
15. 15CE Broker — Florida nursing FAQ: provider reporting, attestation, audits, domestic violence timing, carry-over and what qualifies (opens in a new tab)
16. 16CE Broker — the free Basic account and what it includes (opens in a new tab)
17. 17CE Broker — compliance status, the Requirements tab and courses posted under the wrong subject area (opens in a new tab)
18. 18CE Broker — checking compliance on a Basic account, including the Course History warning icon (opens in a new tab)
19. 19CE Broker — the Compliance Transcript on paid accounts (opens in a new tab)
20. 20CE Broker — how to self-report continuing education, and provider and course tracking numbers (opens in a new tab)
21. 21Code of Federal Regulations 42 CFR 483.95(g) — nursing home in-service training for nurse aides, at least 12 hours a year (opens in a new tab)