Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs)

Nurse and doctor with patient

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Certified nursing assistants (CNAs, also referred to as nurse aides) provide personal care including feeding, bathing, and assisting patients with personal hygiene. CNAs check patients' vital signs, make progress assessments, deliver meals, maintain a secure environment, and perform treatments and other tasks. A CNA works under supervision of a licensed nurse. Plans for all CNA courses taught in Iowa need to be approved by DIAL, but DIAL does not issue the certificate. A nurse aide is certified in Iowa, not licensed.

Summary

  • Code Citations:
  • Requirements:
    • Must either enroll themselves or be sponsored by their employer to take the 75-hour course and competency tests provided by a testing site. Thirty of the 75 course hours are clinical. After one has completed the course and passed both the skills and written competency tests, the individual's name and scores are submitted automatically to DIAL. The individual is placed on the Iowa Direct Care Worker (DCW) Registry and issued a six-digit ID number.
    • If a person is currently on a direct care worker/CNA registry in another state, they can learn how to transfer to the Iowa registry here.  
  • Cost:
    • The cost of the 75-hour training course is determined by the community college or entity where the course is offered. However, for aides working in a certified nursing home, this fee is typically paid by the employer.
    • The cost for exams is about $60 for written test and $115 for the skills test.
  • Processing Time: Varies; please allow at least two weeks after successful completion of the CNA course before your name shows on the DCW Registry.
  • Additional Information:
    • The certification itself does not expire.
    • A CNA only needs to be active on the registry if they want to work in an Iowa long-term care facility (nursing home). If employed as a nurse aide in a certified long-term care facility, the facility must provide and the aide must complete 12 hours of in-service training per year. To remain active on the registry, the aide must perform at least eight hours of qualifying employment in a two-year period. A CNA's standing on the registry expires if the CNA stops working as a CNA for 24 months.
    • If a nurse aide does not work as a CNA for two years or more, the aide will have to retake both competency tests to get their status updated on the registry and to be eligible to work at a long-term care facility in Iowa.
    • Individuals who are found guilty of abusing, neglecting, or mistreating residents by a court of law or who have a finding of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or misappropriation of resident property  will be designated as not eligible for employment on the Iowa Direct Care Worker Registry.

Nurse Aide Training

Find an entity (health care facility or private entity) that offers the 75-hour certified nursing assistant (i.e., nurse aide) course. You may also take the 75-hour CNA course at an Iowa Community College. 

Testing is only provided at an Iowa community college.