Recertification

Re-certification Requirements

Each certification granted by the Dermatology Nurse Practitioner Certification Board (DNPCB) is valid for a three-year period. Expiration of certification shall occur uniformly on December 31. All certificants are subject to audit to ensure that the majority of their practice is focused in dermatology. Fifty percent of current work must be in dermatology. Candidates for re-certification must meet eligibility requirements for certification:

Hold a current and unrestricted license as a registered nurse in the US, Canada, or a country approved by C-NET.
Have a minimum of three years of recent experience as a nurse practitioner in dermatology.
Maintain national certification as a nurse practitioner.

Re-certification candidates must also pay re-certification fees, and must meet one of the following criteria:

Successful completion of the certification examination prior to certification expiration. OR
Submission of completed application for re-certification through continuing education prior to certification expiration.

The Recertification Application opens annually on August 1; the general deadline is October 31 annually with a recertification fee of $300. Late Recertification Applications are accepted November 1 to December 15 annually with a recertification fee of $400.

Click here for Article regarding the Lapse of NP Certifications for DCNP Nurses

If you need a printed certificate, please email recertification@dnpcb.org.

The additional certificates are $25.00/each.

CE Broker

CE Broker is the official CE tracking system of the Dermatology Nurse Practitioner Certification Board. Certificants have been emailed with a unique identification number to register for free with CE Broker. If you did not receive the email please contact recertification@dnpcb.org.

CE Broker's support center is based in Jacksonville, FL and staffed with experts who will be thoroughly trained on the rules and regulations for the DNPCB. Open 8AM- 8PM ET, Monday through Friday, you can reach them by phone at 877-434-6323, or via email and live chat. For additional information and helpful guides, please visit: https://help.cebroker.com

Steps to Recertify

Enter CE Hours in CE Broker: DCNPs must log 60 hours of continuing education in CE Broker using their personalized certificate number. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so at www.cebroker.com. Your CE Broker number can be found in the bottom left corner of the first profile section under "My Profile".
Submit the Recertification Application: The recertification application will be available starting August 1, 2024. To access the application, you will need to log in to your DCNP profile and click Recertification. Complete the form, pay the recertification fee, and submit it by the October 31 deadline. Applications submitted between November 1 and December 15 will incur a $100 late fee.
Review and Approval: Your CE hours will be reviewed by the DNPCB Recertification Committee. Once approved, you will receive an email notification by December 15, 2024, with instructions on how to download and print your updated certificate. The review period currently takes 6 to 8 weeks after your application and hours are submitted.

Difference between CME and CH

There are two main types of continuing education credits that are awarded by accrediting bodies such as ANCC, AANP, AMA, California Board of Nursing, etc. The first type is Continuing Medical Education, CME. The second is Contact Hours, or CH.

CME credits are awarded to a program after review by an expert panel of physicians and/or PAs who use the MEDICAL model of care to review the program/article/webinar. Medical professionals who receive a certificate that awarded them CME lets them know that they attended a program that used the MEDICAL model as its basis.

CH credits are awarded to a program after review by an expert panel of nurses who use the NURSING model of care to review the program/article/webinar. This model of care is the model DCNPs were trained with, first as RNs and then thru our NP grad school programs. This is the model of care the DNPCB believes we should employ in our practice. We believe that our practice as dermatology NURSE practitioners is unique from our colleagues who were trained under the medical model of care and our patients should benefit from that uniqueness.

Thus, DCNP recertification encourages Certificants to attend as many programs/read as many articles that have been reviewed by an expert nursing panel and awarded Contact Hours as possible. To that extent, the DNPCB allows a maximum of 30 CME toward the 60 continuing education credits to recertify.

We realize that some programs award both CME and CH. That lets you and us know that the program has been reviewed by both medical and nursing experts to be sure that the models of care for both medical and nursing professionals have been addressed.