CEU vs CME: meaning, contact hours and conversions

01 In short

CEU stands for continuing education unit. Under the IACET standard, 1 CEU equals 10 contact hours, so one 60-minute contact hour is 0.1 CEU. CME stands for continuing medical education, the physician side of CE, and it is usually counted in AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, where 60 minutes of participation equals 1 credit. Some boards use "CEU" to mean a single hour, so read the definition in your own board's rule before you count anything.

CEU

Continuing education unit: 10 contact hours (IACET)

CME

Continuing medical education; for physicians, usually AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

Contact hour

60 minutes of an organized learning activity (ANCC, ACPE)

1 contact hour

0.1 CEU (ACPE)

Watch out

Maryland counselors: 1 CEU = 60 minutes, by board rule

02 CEU meaning

What does CEU stand for?

CEU means continuing education unit. IACET, the body that wrote the standard, defines it this way: one CEU is equivalent to ten contact hours of participation in an organized learning experience delivered under responsible sponsorship, capable direction and qualified instruction.

So a CEU is a big unit. A full-day, 7-hour workshop is 0.7 CEU, and you need a 10-hour course to earn a whole one.

The name only guarantees the standard when the provider has earned it. IACET says an accredited CEU depends on whether the organization awarding it has gone through independent review against the standard. Pharmacy uses the formal meaning too: ACPE defines a CEU as a unit where 0.1 CEU equals one contact hour, so a 90-minute pharmacy session is 1.5 contact hours or 0.15 CEU.

Boards still write their own definitions. New Mexico's pharmacy rule, for example, says a CEU "means ten contact hours" and asks pharmacists for 3.0 CEU (30 contact hours) every two years.

03 CME meaning

What does CME stand for, and what is a CME credit?

In medicine, CME stands for continuing medical education. The AMA House of Delegates created the Physician's Recognition Award in 1968 to encourage physicians to take part in CME after they finish training.

A CME credit is not a time unit by name, but it behaves like one. For a live activity, the AMA counts 60 minutes of participation as one credit, designated in 15-minute or 0.25-credit steps. Breaks and lunch do not count. An accredited provider has to print a designation statement in this form: "[Provider] designates this live activity for a maximum of [number] AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity." That sentence is how you recognize real Category 1 credit.

Category 2 credit is self-claimed. Physicians record it themselves for learning that was not certified, and no certificate is issued.

AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ goes only to physicians (MD, DO or an equivalent foreign degree). A nurse or pharmacist at the same session may receive documentation of participation that says the activity was certified for Category 1 credit. PAs count CME too: NCCPA asks for 100 CME credits every two years, at least 50 of them Category 1, and accepts AMA PRA Category 1, AAPA, AOA Category 1A and AAFP Prescribed credit. State rules for physicians are on our CME requirements by state page and PA rules on PA CME requirements.

04 Contact hours vs CEU

What are contact hours, and are they the same as CEUs?

A contact hour is 60 minutes of organized learning. ANCC, which accredits nursing continuing professional development, uses exactly that definition, and so does ACPE for pharmacy.

Contact hours and CEUs are not the same thing. Ten contact hours make one CEU, so a nurse who needs 30 contact hours needs the equivalent of 3.0 IACET CEUs, not 30.

What are contact hours in nursing in practice? ANCC lets providers call them "ANCC contact hours", "ANCC CNE credit" or "ANCC NCPD contact hours". For live activities one contact hour equals 60 minutes, rounding goes to the nearest quarter hour, and breaks and meals stay out of the total. Time spent on the activity evaluation does count. For online or print courses the provider has to state how it estimated the hours, for example with a pilot study. Each state's nursing rule is on nursing CE requirements; NPs renewing with AANPCB need 100 contact hours including 25 pharmacology hours (NP CE requirements).

ANCC tells its accredited providers not to use the term "CEU" at all, because one IACET CEU converts to a different amount of time than a contact hour. A nursing certificate that says "CEU" deserves a second look at the fine print.

05 CE vs CEU

CE vs CEU: why many accreditors avoid the word

CE is the generic name for continuing education. CEU is one specific unit. Mixing them up is common enough that four accreditors put warnings in writing.

APA says: do not use the term "CEU" to refer to CE credit for psychologists, which is granted on a one credit per one instructional hour basis. ASWB's ACE handbook says the CEU, defined as 10 hours of participation, must not be used to measure social work credit unless it is used correctly, and gives the conversion 1 CE = .1 CEU. NBCC's provider policy is shorter: the descriptive term CEU cannot be used. ANCC says the same for nursing.

So when a psychology or social work course advertises "6 CEUs", find out whether that means 6 hours or 60. A certificate from an APA- or ACE-approved provider should state CE credits, which are hours.

06 Units by profession

CEU vs CME vs contact hours by profession

The unit printed on your certificate depends on who accredited the provider. This is what each national accreditor or certifying body says about its own unit. Your state board can still define the hour differently.

Pharmacist CE by state · Dental CE by state · Psychologist CE by state · Social work CE by state · Counselor CE by state · Veterinary CE by state

07 Conversion table

Conversion table: minutes to contact hours to CEUs

Use this when a board counts in one unit and your certificate is in another. It assumes the 60-minute contact hour and the IACET/ACPE ratio of 10 contact hours per CEU.

A 50-minute session is not always one hour. AGD PACE and RACE accept 50 to 60 minutes as one unit, and ADA CERP allows one credit for 50 minutes only where a state rule defines the credit hour that way. Under the 60-minute rules above, the same session rounds to 0.75.

08 Reading a certificate

What a CEU certificate shows, and how to read it

A CEU certificate (or any CE certificate) is the provider's proof that you finished an activity and how much credit it carries. ANCC requires the activity title and date, the provider's name and address, the number of contact hours, the accreditation statement and the learner's name. APA requires the approval statement, the activity name and date, the CE credits earned and a signature or other verification. Read yours in this order:

1. Find the unit word next to the number: contact hours, CEUs, CE credits or AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. The number means nothing without it.
2. Find the accreditation statement. For nursing it names the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation; for physician CME it is the AMA designation statement quoted above.
3. Check the completion date against your current renewal period.
4. Convert to your board's unit with the table above, then round the way your board says.
5. Store the PDF where you can find it during an audit. If your state reports through a tracking system, see what CE Broker is.

09 Renewal example

How "CEU" bites people at renewal: a worked example

Take two licensees whose rules both say "CEU".

A New Mexico pharmacist needs 3.0 CEU every two years. The rule defines a CEU as ten contact hours and spells it out: 30 contact hours, with at least 1.0 CEU (10 contact hours) from live programs approved by ACPE or ACCME. A Maryland professional counselor needs 40 CEUs each renewal period, and Maryland's rule defines one CEU as 60 minutes of board-approved activity. That is 40 hours. Same three letters, a tenfold difference in what each one is worth.

Now mix them up. A counselor who moved from New Mexico, or who reads course ads written in IACET terms, sees "0.6 CEU" on a 6-hour certificate and thinks the course is nearly worthless. Under Maryland's definition, if the board approves the activity, those 6 hours are 6 CEUs. The opposite mistake costs more: a pharmacist who reads "3.0 CEU" as three hours would finish the cycle 27 hours short.

The fix takes a minute. Open the rule, find the definitions section and read what one unit equals before you buy a single course. Our state pages quote the unit exactly as each board writes it, for example New Mexico pharmacists and Maryland counselors.

10 Your board's unit

How boards state their unit

Boards write units in their own words: contact hours, clock hours, credit hours, CE hours, CEUs, units or simply hours. A few add the conversion in the same line, as New Mexico does with "3.0 CEU (30 contact hours)". When the rule gives no definition, ask the board in writing and keep the reply.

If you hold licenses in several states or professions, one course can count in different units for each. The multi-state CE planner puts each state's hours, deadlines and mandatory topics side by side, so you can see the overlap before you register.

Physician CME by state · Nursing CE by state · NP CE by state · PA CME by state · Pharmacist CE by state

11 Questions

CEU and CME questions