Wages, Benefits, Hours, Commuting Time, and License Renewal for Iowa Registered Nurses

The Iowa Board of Nursing licensing database for Registered Nurses (RNs) contains information on Registered Nurses who have renewed their licenses including age, race, gender, education, and location of employment.  It also contains comparable information on nurses who opted not to renew at the time of their last renewal. This report contains an analysis of the nurses’ characteristics that increase the likelihood of license renewal based on all useable information contained in the licensing database.  In addition, we randomly sampled subpopulations of nurses who had current licenses and nurses who had allowed their licenses to expire.  A survey of these nurses was analyzed to provide insights into the effects of individual wages, benefits, family income, family responsibilities, hours worked, and commuting time on the decision to work, work in nursing, and maintain a nursing license.