Nurse Aide

Wherever there is a need for personal care, nursing assistants (NA), or nurses’ aides, are there. Nursing assistants work in nursing homes, home care, assisted living, Hospice, hospitals, community-based long-term care, correctional institutions, and other long-term care settings.

Nursing assistants help patients of all ages perform the most basic daily tasks. They work under a licensed nurse’s supervision, and since they have extensive daily contact with each patient, they play a key role in the lives of their patients and in keeping the nurse up to date on vital information about the patients’ conditions.

Competency Exams

To be eligible to work as a certified nurse aide in a long-term care facility in the state of Iowa, a person must be registered on the Iowa Direct Care Worker Registry. To be placed on the registry, you must pass both a computerized competency exam and a skills exam, which are offered at community colleges including IVCE.

Skills Exam Scheduling

• You can call 641-752-4645 to schedule your exam; payment is required at this time.
• You must show a photo ID before beginning the exam.
• No-shows will not be given a refund.
• You will receive your score right away.
• Make sure your address is correct with the Nurse Aide Registry at the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals located in Des Moines.

Computer-Based Scheduling

• You must show a photo ID before beginning the exam.

• Beginning February 2, 2026, the Iowa Community Colleges will now be working with D&S Diversified Technologies, also known as Headmaster LLP and TMU, to offer the Iowa Nurse Aide State Knowledge (Comp/Written) Exam.  All Iowa Community Colleges will be serving as proctor sites only.  Headmaster/TMU will serve as the Registration Host including payment and keeper of all candidate information, exam information, and testing results.  The Iowa Community Colleges will only serve in the capacity of a test host site and exam proctor.  The new registration and payment site for all Iowa nurse aide candidates taking the Comp/Written testing is: https://ia.tmutest.com/
• However, in preparation for this transition period, All Iowa Community Colleges will have a small 1-week blackout period from January 24, 2026-February 2, 2026, where the Nurse Aide State Comp/Written Exam cannot be offered.  However, Remote Testing for Comp/Written testing can still be accessed through the DIAL website and this Remote Registration link:  http://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/medical/cna. In person testing will once again resume at all Community Colleges as usual on February 2, 2026.  Thank you for your patience during this small transition period.

Please Note:  This applies ONLY to the State Comp/Written Nurse Aide Exam.  All State Skills Nurse Aide Testing remains unchanged, and you may continue to sign up at any Community College site or location that offers approved State Skills Testing.