District of Columbia Registered Nurse CEUs

First-time renewal: New DC RNs are exempt from the 24-hour CE requirement at their first renewal, though the Board “expects” nurses to begin earning hours during that year.

Certification alternative: No information found on this requirement from the state board site.

The Board accepts multiple compliance paths: standard contact-hour certificates, academic coursework, presenter/teaching credit, and authorship/editorship of peer-reviewed work; licensees who subscribe to CE Broker may have hours auto-reported.

The following topics have been identified as key public health priorities:

• Responsible opioid prescribing and effective pain management

• Nutrition and obesity prevention

• Identifying and reporting abuse (child and adult), neglect (child and adult), human trafficking, and domestic violence

• Sexual health (including taking sexual history, discussing sexual experiences with patients, sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS), HPV vaccines, connections to cancer, latent tuberculosis, safe sex, and birth control)

• Ethics and appropriate patient interactions (i.e. boundaries, patient privacy, and communications including telehealth)

• Smoking, vaping, and tobacco (including dangers, smoking cessation, and non-smoke tobacco products)

• Preparing your patients for an emergency and handling vulnerable populations in an emergency

• Identifying impairment (physical or mental) in patients and providers (including complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act)

• Vaccinations (including legal requirements and appropriate exemptions)

• Implicit bias, cultural competence and Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in health and health care.