How to renew your Iowa RN license

Rule 481—619.2(1) of the Iowa Administrative Code sets the requirement: 36 contact hours, or 3.6 CEUs, completed within the renewal period. DIAL's Continuing Education page says the same and adds that hours must be earned within the renewal period to count.

Since June 4, 2025, the board no longer approves CE providers or course content. You choose courses yourself, and each one has to fit the subject-matter list in 619.2(3): patient care, professional growth in a nursing role, the sciences behind nursing, the legal and ethical side of health care, health care management, or teaching patients, students, and staff.

What counts toward Iowa's 36 hours

Per IAC 481—619.2(2)–(3) and the DIAL Continuing Education page:

• National certification or recertification related to nursing practice: 36 contact hours, the full requirement.
• Nurse residency program: 36 contact hours.
• Preceptor for a nursing student or a nurse moving into a new clinical area, at least 60 hours in an organized program: 6 contact hours. Keep the supervising institution's documentation.
• Academic courses beyond your original nursing education: one semester hour equals 15 contact hours, one quarter hour equals 10. Keep a transcript with a passing grade.
• A board-approved nurse refresher course: hours of participation count.
• Mandatory reporter course: each HHS course counts as 2 contact hours (DIAL mandatory reporter page). The certificate will show 2.4 social work credits; DIAL counts it as 2 nursing contact hours.
• Course length: each offering must run at least one hour. After the first hour, credit accrues in 15-minute steps of 0.25 hours (DIAL).

What does not count

• CPR and basic life support (BLS) courses. DIAL lists them by name, and the April 2026 DIAL Nexus newsletter repeats it. Your employer may still require a current BLS card. See BLS renewal.
• Orientation and routine in-service activities.
• Self-help or self-care topics that are not scientifically supported.

DIAL does not name ACLS, PALS, or other advanced life-support courses on either list. If you plan to count one, keep a certificate that shows the hours, and check it against the subject-matter list in 619.2(3). See ACLS renewal and PALS renewal.

Carryover

If you finish more than 36 hours, you can carry up to 18 contact hours (1.8 CEUs) into the next license period (IAC 481—619.2(2)"b").

Mandatory reporter training

Rule 481—617.8(3)"d" makes mandatory reporter training part of renewal:

• If you regularly examine, attend, counsel, or treat children in Iowa, you indicate on the renewal application that you completed child abuse identification and reporting training in the previous three years.
• If you do the same for adults in Iowa, you indicate dependent adult abuse training in the previous three years.
• If you care for both, you need both courses. If you care for neither, you do not need either; DIAL says your employer can document that.
• The course must be the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) curriculum. HHS says reporters retake it every three years.
• Keep the certificate for three years after the training (617.8(3)"d"(4)). The requirement is suspended at renewal if you are on active military duty or hold a board-approved hardship exemption.

Exemptions

You may be exempt from CE, with proof on request, if during the license period you (IAC 481—619.2(5); DIAL CE page):

• served on honorable active duty in the U.S. military;
• held an active license in another state that requires CE, and lived outside Iowa at renewal;
• worked outside the U.S. as an RN or LPN for the government, foreign service, or missionary work; or
• had a physical or mental illness or disability, documented on the board's form with a health care provider's signature.

Apply before renewal. You cannot claim an exemption or extension on the renewal application until the board approves it. DIAL takes form requests at ibn@iowa.gov.

Audits and records

• Selection: DIAL picks a random number of licensees each month and notifies you at the end of the license period (DIAL CE page; IAC 481—619.2(7)).
• Deadline: submit proof within 30 days of the audit notice. Extensions are granted case by case (619.2(7)"c").
• What to send: certificates or proof of attendance showing your name, course date, course title, and hours, plus mandatory reporter certificates and any approved exemption (DIAL CE page; 619.2(7)"b").
• Records: keep CE documentation for four years (619.2(4)).
• Shortfalls: if the board finds a deficit, you are allowed to submit make-up credit. That credit cannot be reused for the current period (619.2(7)"d"). Failing the audit or falsifying records may lead to discipline.

Your first renewal

Iowa issues a first license, by exam or endorsement, for 24 to 36 months, then moves you onto the three-year cycle (IAC 481—617.8(2)). DIAL does not publish a reduced CE amount for the first renewal, so plan on 36 hours.

Compact and primary state of residence

• Member state: "Iowa is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact" (DIAL NLC page). NCSBN's implementation list gives Jan. 19, 2018 for Iowa.
• At renewal you attest that Iowa is your primary state of residence, or that your primary state is a noncompact state. The board may ask for proof (IAC 481—617.8(3)"a"). DIAL describes primary state of residence as where you hold a driver's license, vote, and pay taxes.
• Moving to another compact state: apply for a license in the new state within 60 days of moving (NLC rule 402(2), quoted by DIAL). Once the new state issues it, your Iowa multistate license becomes inactive (617.8(6)).
• Check your license type on Nursys. DIAL also points nurses to Nursys e-Notify for renewal notices.
• Further reading: multi-state nursing license tracking and compact status.

Nearby live RN guides: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri.

This is the initial publish. Drafted October 19, 2026; regulator facts revalidated November 9, 2026 with no fee, cycle, or CE-hour change. Iowa's nursing rules moved from the Nursing Board's chapter 655 to DIAL's chapter 481 in 2025. CE rules are now IAC 481—619, effective June 4, 2025, and the same update ended board approval of CE providers. Older pages and third-party sites may still cite 655 or mention approved providers.