Nursing Council recertification: practice hours, professional development and audits

Recertification for nurses in Aotearoa New Zealand is not a points scheme. It is a set of continuing competence requirements the Nursing Council sets under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and you confirm them yourself each year when you apply for your annual practising certificate (APC). The declaration states that the information you give is true and correct, so treat it with the same care as a clinical record.

1. Practice hours. At least 450 hours of nursing practice (about 60 full-time working days) in the previous 36 months.
2. Professional development. At least 60 hours of professional development relevant to your scope of practice in the same 36 months.
3. Standards of competence. You meet the Council's standards of competence for your scope: enrolled nurse, registered nurse or nurse practitioner each have their own document.

The 36 months roll forward. At every renewal you look back three years from the date of your application, not to a fixed calendar cycle. That means a heavy year of study does not "bank" hours for ever: once activities fall outside the 36-month window, they no longer count.

The Council published new standards of competence for registered and enrolled nurses in February 2025. They replaced the older competencies in two stages:

• From 1 April 2025 they apply to all new APCs and to recertification audit requirements.
• From 1 January 2026 they apply for all other purposes, including Professional Development and Recognition Programmes (PDRPs).

So if you renew your APC or are audited now, you are judged against the new standards, not the old domains. The registered nurse standards are organised into six pou (pillars):

The standards are not only for bedside roles. The Council's audit guidance says they also apply to nurses in management, education, research and policy work, so a nurse educator or charge nurse manager writes examples from that work. Enrolled nurses have their own standards document, and the audit guidance asks enrolled nurses for five examples rather than six. Nurse practitioners have separate standards; check the Council's nurse practitioner guidance for what applies to you.

The Council lists degree courses, short courses, seminars, conferences, in-service education, professional supervision and online learning as professional development, along with journal reading done within a structured framework. The test is not the format but relevance: the activity must be relevant and appropriate to your scope of practice. A New Zealand nursing qualification completed within the last three years also counts.

Good choices for your 60 hours

• Learning that fills a gap you noticed in practice, such as documentation after a new electronic record system went live.
• Topics linked to a pou you find hard to evidence, for example cultural safety or leadership.
• Mandatory employer training that develops your practice (for example resuscitation or medication safety), recorded honestly with the real time spent.
• Professional supervision or structured reflection sessions, recorded with dates and duration.

Weak or risky entries

• Activities with no link to your current scope, or where you cannot say what you learned.
• Rounded-up or guessed hours. Record the time you actually spent.
• The same course counted twice, or activities older than 36 months.

PD certificates are not required for the audit, but your record must show the date or period, topic, duration in hours, and which pou the learning relates to. Keeping certificates anyway costs nothing and makes your log easier to verify.

The Council randomly selects five percent of practising nurses for a recertification audit. Being selected does not mean anyone has raised a concern about you. It is a check that your APC declaration was accurate.

1. Practice hours. You declare that you have practised at least 450 hours in the last three years. The guidance does not require payslips or rosters for this, but your declaration must be accurate.
2. Professional development record. You list at least 60 hours over the last three years: date or period, topic, hours, and the pou each activity relates to.
3. Examples of practice. You give one example for each standard (six for registered nurses, five for enrolled nurses) describing a specific interaction or situation from the last three years. You evidence each pou as a whole, not every descriptor beneath it.
4. Verification. A senior nurse (or your employer, where appropriate) verifies that your evidence reflects your actual practice.
5. AI declaration. The 2025 guidance requires you to declare that your evidence has not been generated by artificial intelligence. The Council warns that misuse may amount to professional misrepresentation.

PDRP exemption: nurses whose PDRP portfolio has been assessed in the past three years are not audited. Keep your PDRP assessment date handy; it is the simplest way to show the exemption applies.

Auditors and verifiers want to see real practice, not a restatement of the standard. A simple structure works for every pou: situation (where, when, who, de-identified), what you did (your actions and reasoning), and outcome and learning (what changed for the person, the team or your own practice). Aim for a short paragraph, written in the first person.

The prompts below are our suggestions, not Council templates. Use them to recall real situations; never invent one.

A worked example (Whanaungatanga and communication)

"On a medical ward, an older man with limited English was due to consent to a procedure. His son offered to interpret. I explained that a professional interpreter was safer for medical information and arranged one by phone. With the interpreter, I used teach-back and found he had misunderstood the fasting instructions. We corrected this, and his son said they both felt more confident. I now book interpreters before consent discussions rather than relying on family."

Notice what makes it work: one specific situation, the nurse's own actions, a reason grounded in the person's rights, and a lasting change in practice. Keep all examples free of names, dates of birth, NHI numbers or other details that could identify a person.

Life happens: parental leave, illness, overseas travel, a career break. The Council's continuing competence guidance describes what can follow when a nurse cannot confirm the requirements:

• Not enough practice hours: the Council may include conditions requiring a competence assessment against the standards, or an orientation programme run by your employer.
• Not enough professional development: conditions may require you to complete the outstanding hours within a stated time.
• Standards not met: the Council will contact you to discuss your situation and any conditions that may apply.
• Five years or more out of practice: you need to follow the Council's returning to practice pathway.

Conditions of this kind are designed to bring you back to safe practice, not to punish. The worst option is to declare compliance you cannot show. If you are short of hours, say so on your APC application and talk to the Council early. A shortfall in professional development is usually the easiest to fix, because relevant online learning can be completed flexibly.

Recertification is separate from the Council's complaint and competence-review processes. If a concern has been raised about your practice, see our guide to the Nursing Council complaint investigation process instead.

The standards of competence describe what you can do; the Nursing Council's Code of Conduct for Nurses (June 2012, refreshed June 2020) describes how you behave. Four values underpin it (respect, trust, partnership, integrity), and it sets out eight principles, summarised here:

1. Treat each person with dignity and as an individual.
2. Honour their culture and values in how you nurse.
3. Partner with people to protect and improve their wellbeing.
4. Earn trust through safe, competent care.
5. Protect privacy and keep information confidential.
6. Work well with colleagues so people's needs are met.
7. Behave with integrity so trust is deserved.
8. Uphold the public's confidence in nursing.

Your APC declaration is itself an act of integrity under principle 7. Professional development that strengthens your grasp of the Code, the Council's Professional Boundaries guidelines (2012) and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights is relevant to every nursing scope, which makes it an easy fit for your 60 hours.

Each course below is online, self-paced and has instant access, knowledge checks, a 20-question final assessment (pass mark 80%, 16 of 20) and a certificate of completion with a structured reflective account you can adapt for your PD record. Prices are in New Zealand dollars.

The mapping is our suggestion for planning; you decide which pou your learning supports and record it in your own words. Two courses (6 hours) a year, plus your employer's in-service education, comfortably covers 60 hours over three years. See the full list on our NZ courses page.