In 1995, the Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine adopted rules which require any veterinarian who maintains an active license to complete 40 hours of continuing education during each 2-year license renewal period. Licensees must maintain documentation of CE attendance for at least four years.
CE requirements are waived for the first renewal period of all Minnesota licenses.
At least 30 of the 40 hours must be from interactive sources (lectures, wet labs, etc.). No more than 10 may be from practice management programs. One hour of CE credit is awarded for every 50 minutes of lecture or training. Ten hours of credit may be obtained through non-interactive sources such as journal reading (1 credit is earned per 3 hours of self-study).
CE programs sponsored by the following are pre-approved and do not require individual approval by the Board:
Additionally, CE programs approved by the AAVSB's Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) are automatically accepted as approved credit.
Please note: A specialty group is defined as a group in an AVMA recognized specialty that provides board specialty certification.
Programs by other sponsors who have obtained advance approval from the Board do not require individual approval. A calendar of these approved courses is available on this site.
To obtain Board approval for a course which does not fall into any of the above categories of pre-approved courses, you may request individual approval by completing the CE Program Approval Form for Individual Attendees. Print the form from this site or contact the Board Office to obtain the form by mail or fax.
The application for license renewal requires a signature attesting that the CE requirement has been completed. Documentation does not need to be sent to the Board Office except when requested during a routine audit or an individual investigation.
If the required 40 credits cannot be completed and if there is good cause, the licensee should request a six-month extension. Signing the renewal form without completion of required CE is false certification and could be grounds for disciplinary action by the Board.
On May 11, 2005, the Board adopted the following policy regarding interactive CE courses are seminars, lectures, and wet labs.
Interactive on-line courses shall provide:
If your online-delivered program is NOT interactive as described above, then it is considered non-interactive or passive CE. Non-interactive categories include:
