The New Mexico Board of Nursing requires all licensees and certificate holders to engage in continuing education to help assure the health and well-being of the citizens of New Mexico.  Engaging in continuing education also helps assure that licensees and certificate holders maintain current knowledge in their area of practice. The New Mexico Board of Nursing partnered with CE Broker to help licensees and certificate holders manage the requirements of continuing education. (CE Broker | Simple Continuing Education Tracking)

FREE “Just the Basics” Account – This account provides all the necessary tools for you to comply with the department’s reporting requirements. You can view your basic course history, which will list the course name, educational provider name, date of completion and hours reported. It would then be up to you to determine whether all the courses that have been reported will complete all your specific continuing education requirements. You can also self-report any continuing education that may be missing.

Professional Account (Paid Subscription – Optional) – This account provides you with all the tracking tools that CE Broker offers. Your transcript will display what your specific CE requirements are and will calculate what requirements have been met and what may still be outstanding. A Professional Account is a subscription service and is not a requirement, but it can be a useful tool in managing your continuing education requirements should you choose to subscribe. This account offers a 7-day Free Trial but is not the FREE account.

Contact Hour Definition and Equivalencies

Please note that the Board of Nursing measures continuing education in contact hours. 16.12.1.7C. NMAC defines a “contact hour” means the unit of measurement describing an approved and organized learning experience equivalent to 60 clock minutes.

Contact hour calculations:

• 1 contact hour = 60 minutes of an organized learning activity
• 1 continuing education unit (CEU) = 10 contact hours
• 1 (semester) academic credit hour = 15 contact hours
• 1 (quarter) academic credit hour = 10 contact hours

Continuing Education Offered by Providers of Continuing Education

To be acceptable in New Mexico, the CE activity must have been approved by a recognized approval body and must enhance the licensee’s scope of professional development as related to his/her activities in nursing.  The participant must receive a certificate of attendance which validates the number of approved CE hours awarded, name of the participant, sponsoring agency, approval body and date attended. Correspondence courses and home-study programs are acceptable, if approved. From 16.12.2.10 NMAC:

1) Recognized approval bodies for CE for nurses.

       (a) National or state recognized nursing organizations.

       (b) Other state boards of nursing.

       (c) New Mexico board-approved local monitoring systems.

2) Other CE which may be accepted as approved CE for nurses:

       (a) academic credit, computation: one academic credit equals 15 contact hours;

       (b) CE units (CEUs) or contact hours awarded by CE divisions within educational institutions of higher learning;

       (c) educational offerings approved through other generally recognized health care or professional organizations as related to licensee’s nursing practice.

3) CE hours accrued through educational offerings approved by a local monitoring system shall be accepted as meeting the CE requirements for licensure in New Mexico but may not be accepted by other state boards of nursing as approved CE.              

Certification or recertification in the registered nursing specialty area

Certification or recertification granted by a national professional organization such as CCRN or PCCN from AACN, which uses criteria designed to recognize competence in a specialized area of nursing practice may be used as approved CE. Verification of certification or recertification within the current renewal period is accepted in lieu of the thirty (30) hours of CE required for licensure.

Advanced Practice Nurses

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) will need both an APRN and RN account in CE Broker. The APRN is required to upload their valid National Certificate to meet the requirements of continuing education for the APRN and RN license. For those APRNs who prescribe controlled substances and have a DEA, the additional requirements for five hours non-cancer pain management continuing education according to 16.12.9.10 NMAC still remains.

Certified Hemodialysis Technicians or Certified Hemodialysis Technicians

For continuing education to count, it must be approved in the same fashion that continuing education is approved for nurses, or it must be provided by a Board approved Nurse Educator of a Hemodialysis Technician or Medication Aide Training Program. The continuing education must be earned during the certification period and specifically related to the CHT-ll’s and CMA-ll’s expanded scope of function. If in doubt about the suitability of an educational activity, reach out to your Nurse Educator for assistance.

If the licensing period or certification period is less than 24 months, the required contact hours to meet the continuing education requirements will be prorated.

Below is a table and our website has links to more information about the New Mexico Board of Nursing’s requirements for continuing education.