Become a nurse practitioner in Prince Edward Island through the PEI College of Nursing and Midwifery: RN registration first, the UPEI Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner stream, the national NP examination, and NP registration.
Applies in: Prince Edward Island
To practise as a nurse practitioner in Prince Edward Island you must be a registered nurse, complete a graduate nurse practitioner program, pass the national NP examination, and register as an NP with the Prince Edward Island College of Nursing and Midwifery (PEICNM). Nurse practitioner is an additional registration class under PEICNM, on top of registered nurse registration. It is not a separate college. The in-province program is the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) Master of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner stream, which admits students every second year.
PEICNM's guidance document, revised April 2026, states the position plainly: the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) gives PEICNM the authority to regulate registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs), registered psychiatric nurses (RPNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and registered midwives (RMs) in Prince Edward Island. PEICNM is a multidisciplinary college, which means it regulates more than one regulated health profession under a single organizational umbrella, governed by one council made up of RNs, NPs, RPNs, LPNs, RMs, and members of the public. Each profession has its own regulations under the RHPA and its own standards from PEICNM.
Use the current name. The College was formerly the College of Registered Nurses and Midwives of Prince Edward Island (CRNMPEI), and before that the College of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island (CRNPEI). Its current name is the Prince Edward Island College of Nursing and Midwifery, and its website is now peicnm.ca. Do not apply to the CRNPEI and do not cite it as the regulator: that name no longer exists. One caution: UPEI's calendar still uses the College's former name in one place, where it says students must maintain registration with the College of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island. The current name is PEICNM.
A current registration is required to act as, or use the title of, a nurse practitioner in Prince Edward Island. Working as an NP without a current registration is unauthorized practice, and employers are responsible for checking that every person in an NP position holds a current registration.
The nurse practitioner route starts from registered nurse registration. UPEI requires proof of active practising nurse registration in Canada for admission to the Master of Nursing program, and once enrolled, students must maintain active practising nurse registration with PEICNM. This guide does not re-walk the RN route beyond that handoff point. If you are not yet a registered nurse in the province, the steps are in our How to Become a Registered Nurse in Prince Edward Island guide: the UPEI Bachelor of Science in Nursing, application to PEICNM, the English language and practice-hour requirements, the NCLEX-RN, and provisional registration while you wait for the exam.
PEICNM approves the registered nursing and nurse practitioner education programs in the province, so the program you choose must be one the College approves. The in-province program is UPEI's. Some students attend out-of-province programs; if you do, confirm with PEICNM that your program is accepted before you apply for registration.
The UPEI Master of Nursing has two streams: the Thesis stream and the Nurse Practitioner stream. The UPEI calendar states that the Nurse Practitioner stream is 10 courses, with a total of 43 credit hours and 700 clinical hours. The courses cover advanced human physiology and pathophysiology, advanced primary health care, advanced health assessment, pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice, evidence-based practice and the nurse practitioner, health promotion and disease prevention, episodic health care, the professional role of the nurse practitioner, chronic disease management, and a nurse practitioner practicum. Admission to the Nurse Practitioner stream occurs every second year, with the next intake in Fall 2027.
UPEI's admission requirements for the Master of Nursing program are:
All application materials must be received no later than February 15. Late applications may be considered if space is available. Three references are required, at least one from an academic and at least one from a recent employer, and for the Nurse Practitioner stream a reference from the recent employment supervisor must confirm a minimum of two years in clinical nursing practice. An interview may be required. Preference is given to qualified residents of Prince Edward Island. Admission is competitive: meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.
UPEI's calendar states that graduates of the Nurse Practitioner stream are eligible to write the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Examination: Family/All Ages. That is the examination this guide states for PEI graduates.
One change is coming. The single national Canadian Nurse Practitioner Licensure Examination (CNPLE) launched in 2026 and is replacing the stream-specific exams, with each province switching on its own timeline. Ontario switched on July 1, 2026, British Columbia holds its first sitting in February 2027, Nova Scotia switches in spring 2027, and Alberta in 2028. No switch date is published for Prince Edward Island. Confirm with PEICNM which examination your cohort writes before you register for one. If the regulator and a program page ever disagree, the regulator governs.
Once you have completed the program and passed the examination, register as an NP with PEICNM. A current registration is required to use the NP title or to practise as an NP in the province, and employers check registration on the College's website.
PEICNM publishes its requirements as policies rather than as a single application checklist, so this guide cannot walk a step-by-step NP application form. Contact PEICNM directly for the current application form and fee before you apply. The College's office is at Unit 1, 45 Paramount Drive, Charlottetown, PE C1E 0C6, phone 902-367-4005, toll-free 1-844-843-3933. Currency of practice is a published rule, not a question to ask: in the three years before your application you must have practised a minimum of 450 hours as a nurse practitioner, and the hours only count if you held a registration as a nurse practitioner while you worked them. If you have some NP practice in those three years but fewer than 450 hours, the College issues a Provisional Class registration instead. If you have not practised as a nurse practitioner at all in the three years before your application, you must complete a refresher program. The same 450-hours-in-three-years rule applies at renewal.
The Canadian Nurses Protective Society provides liability protection to RN, NP, and RPN members of the College. Confirm with PEICNM whether your liability protection is included in your registration fee or arranged separately.
If you completed your NP education in another province, confirm with PEICNM that your program is accepted for registration in Prince Edward Island before you apply. Some UPEI NP students attend out-of-province programs, and the College approves the programs it accepts, so the question to ask is whether your specific program is on that list.
If you were educated as an NP outside Canada, no PEICNM-specific internationally educated NP route was published on the pages opened for this draft. Contact PEICNM directly for the current assessment process before you apply, and do not assume the Canadian-graduate steps apply to you.
No NP application fee, NP registration fee, examination fee, examination date, or processing time was published on the pages opened for this draft, so this guide states none. No step-by-step NP application checklist was published on the pages opened either. PEICNM's current NP application form and fee were not located on peicnm.ca, so confirm them with the College before you apply. The fee figures published in the College's 2024 annual report are for RN registration, not NP registration, so this guide does not carry them as NP fees. This guide also states no salary figure and no program tuition, because none was verified on a UPEI or PEICNM page opened for this draft.
The Prince Edward Island College of Nursing and Midwifery (PEICNM). The Regulated Health Professions Act gives PEICNM the authority to regulate registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered psychiatric nurses, licensed practical nurses, and registered midwives in the province. It is a multidisciplinary college, regulated under one council, and each profession has its own regulations under the Act and its own standards from PEICNM.
No. Nurse practitioner is an additional registration class under PEICNM, on top of registered nurse registration. There is no separate nurse practitioner college in the province. You register as an NP with the same College that registers you as an RN.
No. That name is out of date. The College was formerly the College of Registered Nurses and Midwives of Prince Edward Island (CRNMPEI), and before that the College of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island (CRNPEI). Its current name is the Prince Edward Island College of Nursing and Midwifery, and its website is now peicnm.ca. Use the current name on every application and reference.
Yes. The route builds on registered nurse registration, and UPEI requires proof of active practising nurse registration in Canada for admission to the Master of Nursing program. Once enrolled, students must maintain active practising nurse registration with PEICNM. If you are not yet a registered nurse, start with our [How to Become a Registered Nurse in Prince Edward Island](/guides/how-to-become-a-registered-nurse-in-prince-edward-island/) guide.
The in-province program is the University of Prince Edward Island Master of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner stream. It is 10 courses, 43 credit hours, and 700 clinical hours. Admission to the stream occurs every second year, with the next intake in Fall 2027. Applicants need a baccalaureate degree in nursing with a minimum average of 75% or a GPA of 3.0 (B) in the last twenty courses, prior completion of a Research Methods course, an Introductory Statistics course, and a course in Nursing Theory, and a minimum of two years of experience in clinical nursing practice. All application materials must be received no later than February 15.
UPEI's calendar states that graduates of the Nurse Practitioner stream are eligible to write the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Examination: Family/All Ages. The single national Canadian Nurse Practitioner Licensure Examination (CNPLE) is replacing the stream-specific exams, with each province switching on its own timeline, and PEI's switch date is not published. Confirm with PEICNM which examination your cohort writes before you register for one.