Contact Hour Requirements
Continuing Education Contact Hours
To recertify your Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN®) certification, you need to earn a total of 90 contact hours (CH) over the 5 years since your certification. Of these 90 CH, you need to have at least 68 CH designated as medical-surgical and no more than 22 CH as Professional Development / Other Health Related.
More information about the types of Acceptable Education Activities can be found in the Recertification & Exam Exemption Application Guide available for free.
Download the Recertification Application Guide
What Are Med-Surg Contact Hours?
If the content of the activity is included in the CMSRN exam blueprint, then the contact hours will be considered to be medical-surgical nursing. A minimum of 68 CH of the required 90 hours must apply to this category.
What Are Professional Development/Health Related Contact Hours?
These contact hours include the broad area of health care, general nursing, and professional development. Examples include leadership, nursing informatics, interviewing, and financial management. A maximum of 22 contact hours of the required 90 hours may apply to this category.
Contact Hour Credit Awarded
The number of contact hours or credits earned will be will be the number of contact hours awarded. Contact Hours earned from January 1 of the first year of current certification may be submitted for recertification. Examples: Date certified was 5/1/2010. Contact Hours earned since 1/1/2010 may be submitted for the recertification period ending 4/30/15.
Do I Send My Certificates?
MSNCB conducts random audits of applications to ensure candidates are eligible for recertification. Do not send your certificates unless you are contacted to do so. Only those candidates selected for random audit will be asked to provide copies of their certificates or additional information regarding their medical-surgical contact hours and/or work experience.
Let Us Track Your Contact Hours for You
If you are a CMSRN, you have an account—an MSNCB account! Now you can track your Contact Hours online!
Need Help Attaining Contact Hours?
To make it as easy as possible for you, MSNCB has compiled a list of 10 methods to earn credit in a way that fits you best.
