Licensing boards require the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Registered Nurse (RN), or Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) who regularly examines, attends, counsels, or treats dependent adults or children in Iowa to accurately document compliance with training requirements on abuse education and/or dependent adult abuse, upon renewal of licensure.
The Mandatory Abuse Course taken to meet this requirement MUST be a course that was approved by the Iowa Department of Public Health before 7/1/2019, or by the Iowa Department of Human Services after 7/1/2019.
Any LPN, RN, or ARNP who has contact with children and/or dependent adults in the course of their work are considered to be mandatory reporters.
It is important to note that frequent contact does not necessarily mean “hands on nursing care,” but may simply mean observation of a child or dependent adult.
At the time of license renewal, the board of nursing requires that licensees have completed the Mandatory Reporter training.
Licensees selected for an audit of their continuing education must submit the course completion certificate or provide written documentation from their employer or supervisor attesting to the fact that the licensee does not attend, counsel or treat children or dependent adults in Iowa.
As of 7/1/2019, the Iowa Department of Human Services is responsible for the Mandatory Reporter Training curriculum. Completion of each new course may be counted as 2.0 contact hours of nursing continuing education. But, the certificate of completion only references social work credits.
To see how the enrollment process looks, watch the Mandatory Reporter Tutorial video. For more information, visit the HHS Mandatory Reporter Information webpage.
Updated 2/27/2023