Nurse Practitioner Education Continuum Council
Standards Handbook
Purpose. This handbook defines NPECC criteria for educational design,
commercial independence, faculty disclosure, assessment, evaluation, credit calculation,
and records. It is not legal advice. NPECC does not issue state licenses or national board certifications.
1. Mission
NPECC advances quality continuing education for nurse practitioners through independent standards, transparent review, and evidence-based professional development.
2. Scope of authority
NPECC may:
- Publish criteria and process guidance for CE activities serving NPs and advanced practice teams
- Recognize activities that complete an approved activity file (“process-approved”)
- Receive and review complaints related to process-aligned activities
NPECC does not:
- Issue nursing licenses or national specialty board certifications
- Claim endorsement by any external accreditor unless that status is held in writing and disclosed
- Guarantee that any board or employer will accept a given certificate for renewal
3. Educational design process
Every process-aligned activity follows a documented design cycle:
- Practice gap / needs assessment — Why this activity is needed now
- Measurable learning objectives — What the learner will be able to do
- Content & methods — How learning is delivered and timed
- Assessment — How mastery of objectives is verified
- Evaluation — How learners rate quality, bias, and objectives
- Records & improvement — Retention and continuous quality review
4. Contact hours
| Rule | Expectation |
|---|---|
| Base unit | 60 minutes of educational learning = 1.0 hour |
| Increments | Prefer 0.25 or 0.5 hour steps |
| Excluded time | Breaks, pure marketing, unrelated networking |
| Pharmacology hours | Tag when content is primarily pharmacologic education |
5. Independence & commercial support
- Education content is controlled by planners and faculty, not commercial supporters
- Relevant financial relationships are disclosed
- Product promotion is separated from educational content
- Written commercial support agreements are required when support is accepted
See the Commercial Support Policy.
6. Faculty & conflict of interest
- Faculty credentials appropriate to the content must be documented
- Conflicts of interest disclosed and mitigated before delivery
- Use the Faculty COI Form
7. Assessment & evaluation
- Assessment items should map to learning objectives
- For knowledge post-tests leading to certificates, a pass standard of ≥70% is recommended; retakes may be allowed
- Learner evaluation is required before certificate issuance for process-aligned activities
- Evaluation should include relevance, teaching effectiveness, objectives met, and commercial-bias perception
8. Certificates & records
Certificates must include learner name, activity title, completion date, hours (and pharmacology hours if any), unique ID, verify method, issuing/delivery identity, and honest credit labeling. Optional: learner license number and credentials.
Retention: activity files and completion records for at least six (6) years, or longer if required by law.
9. Complaints
See the Complaint & Appeals Procedure.
10. Version control
| Version | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | 2026-07-20 | Initial public draft for operational use |