Iowa Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

Renewal cycle

3 years (triennial); license expires on the 15th day of licensee's birth month; 30-day grace period

Total CE hours

36 contact hours per 3-year renewal for the RN license; however, ARNPs are deemed compliant with Iowa CE requirements by maintaining current national certification — proof of current time-dated advanced-level certification by the national certifying body satisfies CE for both ARNP and RN renewal.

Pharmacology CE

None state-mandated. Iowa has no pharmacology-specific CE hour requirement for ARNP renewal; national certification maintenance (which for most certifying bodies includes pharmacology CE) is accepted in lieu of state CE.

Controlled-substance CE

ARNPs who prescribed opioids during the 3-year cycle must complete at least 2 hours of CE covering the current CDC opioid-prescribing guideline (dosage/duration limits, abuse risk factors, non-opioid and non-pharmacologic alternatives); documentation must be submitted with the renewal application.

Good to know

Iowa uses the title ARNP. National-certification deference means a PMHNP maintaining ANCC PMHNP-BC certification meets state CE automatically, except the 2-hour opioid CE if they prescribed opioids. Writing medication orders in a hospital setting does not count as 'prescribing' for the opioid CE trigger. ARNPs on a multi-state (NLC) RN license from another compact state do not need a separate Iowa RN license.

Official sources