MedCEC™ Medical Continuing Education Center

California RN's and LVN's are required to completed 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to maintain an active license.

For additional information see the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Diviision 14, Article 5, Section 1451, Continued Education at https://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/applicants/ceptitle16.pdf

Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT) at https://bvnpt.ca.gov/about_us/faq.shtml

Required Courses

California has no specific course requirements however all continuing education courses must be relevant to the practice of nursing. For additional information see Acceptable Course Content at https://www.rn.ca.gov/licensees/ce-renewal.shtml#content

License Expiration Dates

In California, your first license is issued for two birthdays plus 1 month, and will expire the last day of the month following your birth date. From that date on, it will expire every two years. 

For example; if you were licensed in July of 2020, and your birthday is in September of 2020, your first renewal would be in October of 2021 (two birthdays plus 1 month). Your license will then expire the last day of October every other year from October 2021.

For additional information see License/Certificate Renewal, Renewal Cycle at https://www.rn.ca.gov/licensees/lic-renewal.shtml

Audits and Retaining CE Records

"Random audits of registered nurses are conducted regularly (Title 16, California Code of Regulations, Sections 1451(c) and (d)). All RNs are subject to random audits of CE compliance. You are required to keep certificates or grade-slips for four years as proof of CE completion in the event of an audit." For additional information see Audits of Registered Nurses at https://www.rn.ca.gov/licensees/ce-renewal.shtml#acceptable