1. (a) Continuing education must be relevant to patient care or professional nursing in a general or specialty area and enhance the knowledge and application of the physical, social, biological and behavioral sciences.

   1. (1) Overview of the Organ Donation & Transplantation System.
   2. (2) Tissue Donation Process.
   3. (3) Organ Donation Process.
   4. (4) Determining Death and Family Communication.
   5. (5) Caring for Families.
   6. (6) Organ Donor Management.

   (a.1) The continuing education required to satisfy the organ and tissue donation and recovery process in § 21.131(a.1) (relating to continuing education) consists of the following Board-approved curriculum, which is posted on the Board’s website:

2. (b) The Board may, for any given biennial license period and with adequate notice to registered nurses, require that up to 4 hours of continuing education be completed in designated topics.

3. (c) Courses in areas related to the practice of professional nursing such as the following are acceptable:

   1. (1) Human sexuality.
   2. (2) Death, dying and grief.
   3. (3) Foreign language relevant to health care.
   4. (4) Therapeutic interpersonal relationship skills.
   5. (5) Patient rights.
   6. (6) Pharmacology.
   7. (7) Organ and tissue donation and recovery.
4. (d) Courses in areas impacting the practice of professional nursing, such as nursing administration, management, education, and diagnostic and procedural coding are acceptable.
5. (e) Group or individual research, as the principal or co-principal investigator, if approved by the institutional review board of the sponsoring institution, is acceptable and will be credited in the year completed as 15 hours of continuing education.
6. (f) Nonprofessional course content not directly related to patient care, such as courses in self-improvement, changes in attitude, financial gain, courses designed for lay people, basic life support or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mandatory annual education on facility specific policies unrelated to the practice of professional nursing (such as facility leave policies) and employment orientation programs are not acceptable for meeting requirements for license renewal.

Authority

The provisions of this § 21.133 issued under sections 2.1(k) and 12.1 of The Professional Nursing Law (63 P.S. § § 212.1(k) and 222); amended under sections 2.1(k) and 12.1(a) of The Professional Nursing Law (63 P.S. § § 212.1(k) and 222(a)); and 20 Pa.C.S. § 8628.

Source

The provisions of this § 21.133 adopted July 11, 2008, effective July 12, 2008, 38 Pa.B. 3796; amended October 16, 2015, effective October 17, 2015, 45 Pa.B. 6196; amended October 31, 2025, effective November 1, 2025, 55 Pa.B. 7504. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (409266) to (409267).

Cross References

This section cited in 49 Pa. Code § 21.29 (relating to expiration and renewal of license); 49 Pa. Code § 21.131 (relating to continuing education); and 49 Pa. Code § 21.134 (relating to continuing education sources).