For Initial Certification, the applicant must have completed fifty (50) contact hours of approved continuing education in gerontology within 3 years prior to submitting the exam application. Continuing education hours must be accredited by a provider of approver of continuing nursing education, or medical education, such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a state board of nursing, nursing association, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Continuing education contact hours include online or on-campus coursework, attending conferences, lectures, etc., where the applicant is the learner. Alternatively, precepting hours, writing entries or articles for publications, giving presentations or lectures, etc., are considered professional contact hours.
For recertification by continuing education, you will need at least eighty (80) NCPD/CNE contact hours to meet recertification requirements. A minimum of fifty (50) of those hours must be gerontological health care specific topics. The remaining thirty (30) hours may be general nursing, health care, and academic.
For recertification by examination, proof of NCPD/CNE contact hours is not required.