CNA Requirements in North Dakota: 75-Hour Training

How to become a CNA in North Dakota: a 75-hour state training minimum, the Headmaster competency exam — verified from North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Facilities Unit — Nurse Aide Registry. The Unit states its own federal designation: 'The Health Facilities Unit is designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency responsible for the registration of certified nursing assistants, CNAs. In addition to maintaining the NA registry, the Unit receives and investigates allegations of abuse in long term care facilities.' Testing is contracted out: 'The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for North Dakota nurse aide testing.' The State Board of Nursing neither issues nor holds this credential; the statute gives it a consultation role only — in adopting the rules, 'the department shall consult with the state board of nursing and other key stakeholders' (N.D.C.C. 23-44-02(2)). (official site) and last verified August 16, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: North Dakota is a hybrid, and the statute says so in one sentence: a 'Certified nurse aide' means 'an individual who is registered on the nurse aide registry and who has either successfully completed the requirements for the department-approved training and competency evaluation program or has successfully completed the requirements of the department-approved competency evaluation program' (N.D.C.C. 23-44-01(1)). So the title 'certified' is statutory, but the thing you hold is REGISTRATION on a registry, and the registry is the enforcement point: you may not be employed as, or 'hold [yourself] out to be', a certified nurse aide unless you are registered on it (33-43-01-11). WHO RUNS IT: the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Facilities Unit, which describes itself as 'designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency responsible for the registration of certified nursing assistants, CNAs', and which also 'reviews and approves the certified nurse aide training programs throughout the state.' The Department names its test vendor on its own page: 'Nurse Aide Approved Test Vendors: Headmaster - D&S Diversified Technologies, LLP.' NORTH DAKOTA'S REGISTRY IS WIDER THAN THE CNA. The same registry carries four categories with different rules, fees and renewal dates — certified nurse aide, home health aide, nurse aide, and medication assistant I or II (N.D.C.C. 23-44-01(6)) — and only the CERTIFIED nurse aide category is free. Scale, in the Department's own words: 'There are over 17,750 people registered to practice as certified nurse aides in the state of North Dakota.'
Training — 75 hours minimum, with a 16-hour classroom gate before you touch a resident: 'Any individual employed by a nursing facility to provide nursing or nursing-related services who is not a licensed nurse or volunteer or pursuing nurse aide certification and entry on the nurse aide registry must successfully complete a department-approved certified nurse aide training program consisting of a minimum of seventy-five hours and a department-approved competency evaluation or a department-approved competency evaluation' (33-43-01-04(1)). Two structural rules sit inside those 75 hours. FIRST, a hard gate before resident contact: an individual 'must complete a minimum of sixteen hours of classroom training in the following areas from a department-approved nurse aide training program prior to any hands-on contact with residents or patients' — communication and interpersonal skills; infection control; safety and emergency procedures, including the Heimlich maneuver; promoting residents' independence; and respecting residents' rights. SECOND, a deadline and a practical-hours floor: 'The remainder of the seventy-five-hour-approved training and competency evaluation program must be completed within four months of the date of first employment in the facility as a nurse aide and must include at least sixteen hours of supervised practical training.' The rest of the curriculum must cover basic nursing skills, personal care skills, mental health and social service needs, care of residents or clients with cognitive impairments, basic restorative services, and resident or patient rights.
Who may teach it: 'A qualified instructor for certified nurse aide training is a registered nurse with a minimum of two years of nursing experience, at least one year of which must be in the provision of long-term care facility services', who must also have 'completed a course in teaching adults or have experience in teaching adults or supervising nurse aides.' In a facility-based program 'the director of nursing is prohibited from performing the actual training', though a qualifying director of nursing may supervise it, and 'Other health-related professionals who have a minimum of one-year experience in their field may supplement the instructor' (33-43-01-04(1)(a)).
You cannot be charged for training or testing if a facility employs you: The rule states it twice, once on the training side and once on the testing side. Training: the program 'must ensure that individuals in the training program who are employed by or have an offer of employment from a nursing facility to work as a certified nurse aide are not charged for any portion of the nurse aide training program, including fees for textbooks or other required course materials' (33-43-01-04(1)(g)). Testing: 'The competency evaluation program must ensure that nurse aides employed by or having an offer of employment from a facility are not charged for any portion of the competency evaluation program' (33-43-01-05(1)(f)). The Department's program-approval material reproduces the federal reimbursement rule word for word as well: if someone not employed at the time 'becomes employed by, or receives an offer of employment from, a facility not later than 12 months after completing a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program, the State must provide for the reimbursement of costs incurred in completing the program on a pro rata basis.'
Criminal-history and background screening — done by the training program, and asked again at testing: North Dakota puts the screen at the front, and puts the duty on the school rather than on a state fingerprint bureau: training programs 'must screen potential students or individuals seeking entry into a training program. This screening should be completed prior to beginning the training program.' Applicants with a conviction 'substantially related to the qualification, functions, or duties of a certified nurse aide' or with a finding on any state or federal registry 'should be informed they might not be allowed to begin the training program or take the test without providing specific information relating to their background, criminal history, or impairment', and the program 'is responsible to provide sufficient screening to identify those individuals that would be a risk to the vulnerable populations served' and to send that information to the Department for review before entry (33-43-01-03). The same questions are asked again on the state test vendor's North Dakota background form, which requires a yes/no answer on: any arrest, charge or conviction other than a minor traffic offence; any deferred imposition or suspension of sentence or plea of nolo contendere; any nurse aide registry listing marked for abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property; any suspension, revocation, encumbrance or sanction of a registration or nursing licence; any investigation by another jurisdiction; and any denial of registration or nursing licensure by another state. That form carries a parent or guardian signature block for candidates who are minors.
Minimum age: North Dakota publishes none. N.D.C.C. ch. 23-44, N.D. Admin. Code ch. 33-43-01, the Department's Certified Nurse Aide Information and Nurse Aide Registry pages and the state-linked candidate handbook were all searched on 2026-08-16 and none states a minimum age to train, to test, or to be registered. The only age reference found anywhere is a records rule that has nothing to do with eligibility: after a candidate turns 18, the test vendor 'will only discuss test results or test reviews with the candidate.' The existence of a parent/guardian signature form on the state's testing side shows minors do test; it does not set a floor, and this record does not invent one.
Working while you train — the four-month window: 'An individual who is enrolled in a department-approved certified nurse aide training and competency evaluation program may be employed to perform nursing or nursing-related services under the supervision of a licensed nurse for no more than four months without obtaining registry status.' Outside that window the door is shut: 'An individual who is not a licensed nurse who is not enrolled in a department-approved certified nurse aide training program may not be employed in a nursing facility to provide nursing or nursing-related services until the individual obtains registry status as a certified nurse aide' (33-43-01-11(1)(a)-(b)). Two safeguards ride along: 'Individuals may not perform tasks for which competence has not been determined unless under the direct supervision of a licensed nurse', and someone trained and found proficient in specific services but not yet through the competency evaluation performs those services under a licensed nurse's general provision (33-43-01-04(1)(e)-(f)).
Applications are online only: 'Health Facilities does not process paper applications' and 'The Unit does not process paper applications' — both statements are the Department's own, on its Nurse Aide Registry page. Applications, renewals, address and name changes, registration-card printing and CNA verification letters all run through the Department's Nurse Aide Registry Online Services. The same page warns that money does not come back if a batch fails: 'Per North Dakota Administrative Code 33-43-01, application fees are non-refundable. For example, when one check is submitted to pay for ten applicants and one applicant cannot be processed, all fees will be kept, and nine applicants will be processed.'

Legal basis

North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Facilities Unit — Nurse Aide Registry. The Unit states its own federal designation: ‘The Health Facilities Unit is designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency responsible for the registration of certified nursing assistants, CNAs. In addition to maintaining the NA registry, the Unit receives and investigates allegations of abuse in long term care facilities.’ Testing is contracted out: ‘The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for North Dakota nurse aide testing.’ The State Board of Nursing neither issues nor holds this credential; the statute gives it a consultation role only — in adopting the rules, ’the department shall consult with the state board of nursing and other key stakeholders’ (N.D.C.C. 23-44-02(2)). administers certified nursing assistant licensing in North Dakota. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.

What it’s called

North Dakota’s statutory noun is ‘certified nurse aide’, and the Department’s own headings use ‘certified nursing assistants, CNAs’ in the same breath — the state treats CNA, certified nurse aide and certified nursing assistant as the same thing. What you actually hold is REGISTRATION on the North Dakota Nurse Aide Registry in the certified nurse aide category; N.D.C.C. 23-44-01(1) builds registry listing into the definition of the title itself. ‘CNA license’ is loose usage — even the state’s own testing contractor writes ‘CNAs who have let their CNA license expire’ — but North Dakota issues no licence, and the rule speaks throughout of registry status being denied, suspended, revoked or encumbered rather than of a licence. THREE OTHER REGISTRY CATEGORIES SHARE THE SAME LIST AND ARE ROUTINELY CONFUSED WITH THE CNA: ’nurse aide’ (NA), a genuinely different and lower credential for settings that are not nursing facilities or home health agencies; ‘home health aide’ (HHA); and ‘medication assistant’ I and II (the state’s own pages also write these as Medication Aide 1 and Medication Aide 2). Only the CNA category is free; the other three cost $25 and, unless paired with a CNA, renew on September 30. NATCEP — Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program — is the federal-law name for the approved course and the name the Department uses for it. TMU is TestMaster Universe, the testing contractor’s system at nd.tmutest.com. A NAME THAT IS NOW WRONG: the North Dakota Department of Health. Health and Human Services is the current department; the older health.nd.gov address still redirects, and North Dakota’s own nurse aide rule still says ‘Department’ means ’the state department of health’ even though the statute it implements defines the department as ’the department of health and human services.’

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Certified nurse aide (CNA) — registration on the North Dakota Nurse Aide Registry in the certified nurse aide category	This is the category a nursing facility needs. North Dakota's statute defines it as a hybrid of certification and registry listing: a 'Certified nurse aide' is 'an individual who is registered on the nurse aide registry and who has either successfully completed the requirements for the department-approved training and competency evaluation program or has successfully completed the requirements of the department-approved competency evaluation program' (N.D.C.C. 23-44-01(1)). The rule adds the prohibition that makes it operative: 'Individuals may not be employed to provide nursing or nursing-related services as a certified nurse aide, home health aide, or nurse aide, or hold themselves out to be a certified nurse aide, home health aide, or nurse aide unless the individual is registered on the department's nurse aide registry' (N.D. Admin. Code 33-43-01-11). Registry status runs 24 months. UNIQUELY IN THIS CLUSTER, THE CNA CATEGORY IS FREE: 'An individual seeking initial certified nurse aide registry status or registry renewal as a certified nurse aide on the department's nurse aide registry may not be charged a fee' (33-43-01-11(1)(f)).	A person who has completed a department-approved certified nurse aide training and competency evaluation program (or, under the rule, a department-approved competency evaluation program) and applied for registry status.
Nurse aide (NA) — a separate, lower registry category for settings that are not nursing facilities	A real, distinct North Dakota credential that the public routinely mistakes for the CNA. The training is defined by topic rather than by hours, the competency evaluation is 'completed by a licensed nurse or employer' rather than by the state's test vendor, and the registration costs 'a nonrefundable fee of twenty-five dollars' (33-43-01-04(3), 33-43-01-05(3), 33-43-01-11(3)). Its renewal date is fixed rather than rolling: 'Initial registry listing will be subject to renewal on or before September thirtieth of the second year and every two years thereafter', and renewal requires 'verification of competence within the past twelve months' plus another $25.	'Any individual who is not a licensed nurse who is employed directly or by contract to provide nursing or nursing-related services by a health care facility or other setting that is not a nursing facility or a home health agency.'
Home health aide (HHA) — a third registry category	'The training program must total at least seventy-five clock hours, with at least sixteen of the seventy-five hours being devoted to classroom training prior to initiating the supervised practical training. At least sixteen hours of the total program hours must be devoted to supervised practical training' (33-43-01-04(2)(a)). The competency evaluation is conducted by a registered nurse with at least two years of nursing experience, one of them in home health care, and an aide 'is not considered to have successfully passed a competency evaluation program if the aide has an unsatisfactory rating in more than one of the required areas.' Registration and renewal are $25 each, with the same September 30 renewal date as the nurse aide category.	'Any individual employed by a home health agency to provide home health aide services directly or by contract.'
Medication assistant I and medication assistant II — add-on categories, not covered by this record	Named here only because North Dakota runs them on the SAME registry and the entry rules are easy to get backwards. The state's own summary: 'It is not necessary to become a Medication Aide 1 before you become a Medication Aide 2. You must be a Nurse Aide or a Certified Nurse Aide to be a Medication Aide 1. Only a Certified Nurse Aide can be a Medication Aide 2.' A medication assistant I 'is limited to employment in a setting in which a licensed nurse is not regularly scheduled'; a medication assistant II 'may be employed both in a setting in which a licensed nurse is regularly scheduled and a setting in which a licensed nurse is not regularly scheduled' (33-43-01-01(13)). Each costs $25 to register. This record covers the nurse aide credential only and states nothing further about the medication assistant curriculum.	A registered nurse aide or certified nurse aide who completes a department-approved medication assistant program.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

North Dakota puts its exclusions in the STATUTE, which is unusual for this cluster and makes them unusually clean. N.D.C.C. 23-44-02(2) directs the Department to make rules registering people paid to provide nursing or nursing-related services, then removes three groups outright: ‘The rules do not apply to a licensed health care professional practicing within the scope of that profession, an unlicensed assistive person under chapter 43-12.1, or a volunteer in the course of providing services without pay.’ A FOURTH EXEMPTION HAS ITS OWN SECTION: ‘Medication administration by an individual within a primary or secondary school under a program established under section 15.1-19-23 is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, if the individual has received education and training in medication administration and has received written consent of the student’s parents or guardian’ (N.D.C.C. 23-44-03). The rule echoes the licensed-nurse and volunteer exclusions in the training provision itself, which reaches an individual ‘who is not a licensed nurse or volunteer or pursuing nurse aide certification’ (33-43-01-04(1)). THE ONE TIME-LIMITED ALLOWANCE, not an exemption: someone enrolled in an approved program ‘may be employed to perform nursing or nursing-related services under the supervision of a licensed nurse for no more than four months without obtaining registry status’, and the same four-month window exists in the home health aide and nurse aide categories (33-43-01-11(1)(a), (2)(a), (3)(a)). WHAT THE BOUNDARY IS NOT: North Dakota does not draw the line at nursing facilities alone. The nurse aide category exists precisely to reach ‘a health care facility or other setting that is not a nursing facility or a home health agency’, and ‘other setting’ is defined to include ‘a clinic, outpatient service provider, or individual home where the individual on the department’s nurse aide registry is employed to provide nursing-related services’ (33-43-01-01(23)). So a worker outside a nursing home is usually not exempt here — they are in a different registry category with different training, a different evaluator and a $25 fee.

Fees

THE CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE CATEGORY IS FREE, AND NORTH DAKOTA SAYS SO IN THE RULE: ‘An individual seeking initial certified nurse aide registry status or registry renewal as a certified nurse aide on the department’s nurse aide registry may not be charged a fee’ (33-43-01-11(1)(f)). The Department repeats it on its own registry page — ‘Certified Nurse Aide - With Training and Competency or Competency Alone NO Fee’ and ‘Certified Nurse Aide – NO Fee.’ THE OTHER REGISTRY CATEGORIES ARE $25 EACH, non-refundable: nurse aide $25, home health aide $25, medication assistant I $25, medication assistant II $25, on initial registration and again at renewal (33-43-01-11(2)-(3); Department registry page). The Department is emphatic about the non-refundable part: ‘when one check is submitted to pay for ten applicants and one applicant cannot be processed, all fees will be kept.’ ⚠ THE STATUTE AND THE RULE DO NOT SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE CNA, AND THIS SITE REPORTS BOTH RATHER THAN PICKING ONE. The statute is a flat, mandatory direction with no exception and no ceiling language: ‘The department shall collect registration fees of twenty-five dollars per individual under this chapter from the individual or the individual’s employer’ (N.D.C.C. 23-44-02(4)) — and chapter 23-44 expressly covers certified nurse aides, defining them at 23-44-01(1) and making them one of its four registry categories at 23-44-01(6). The Department’s own rule says the opposite for that one category: an individual seeking initial certified nurse aide registry status or renewal ‘may not be charged a fee’ (N.D. Admin. Code 33-43-01-11(1)(f)), and the Department’s published price list prints ‘Certified Nurse Aide – NO Fee’. What a certified nurse aide is charged in practice is nothing: the rule and the Department’s own price list agree, and they are what the Health Facilities Unit applies. The tension with the statute is recorded here, not resolved. TESTING: no candidate fee schedule is published by either the Department or the state-linked handbook, and there is a structural reason — a nurse aide ’employed by or having an offer of employment from a facility’ cannot be charged ‘for any portion of the competency evaluation program’ (33-43-01-05(1)(f)), and the same protection covers the training program including textbooks. Where a fee does appear, it is on the candidate side of a retest: ‘If you fail the knowledge and/or skill portion of the exam, you will need to pay for the portion you failed before scheduling a new exam date.’ The audio version of the knowledge test carries ‘an additional charge’ whose amount is not published. TEST REVIEW: ‘$25 non-refundable test review deposit fee’, with an unusual twist — ‘If, after investigation, the review finding is in your favor, you will be refunded the $25 test review deposit. If the finding of the review is not in your favor, the $25 test review deposit will stand.’ NOT SET BY THE STATE: tuition at a program you attend without an employment offer; the Department publishes the approved-program list but no prices.

Exam

Two parts, both required: a multiple-choice knowledge test (with an audio version available) and a manual skill test. The rule sets the shape — the competency evaluation must ‘allow a nurse aide the option of establishing competency through written or oral and manual skills examination’, must draw ‘from a pool of test questions, only a portion of which may be utilized in any one examination’, and ‘must include a demonstration of the randomly selected tasks the individual will be expected to perform’ (33-43-01-05(1)). KNOWLEDGE TEST, as published in the state-linked candidate handbook: ‘The Knowledge Exam consists of 72 multiple-choice questions. Questions are selected from subject areas based on the DHHS-approved North Dakota test plan.’ You get ’ninety (90) minutes to complete the 72-question Knowledge/Audio Exam’, with a warning at 15 minutes remaining, and ‘You must have a 75% or better score to pass the knowledge portion of the exam.’ The published subject-area counts add to the 72: Basic Nursing Skills 11, Care Impaired 5, Communication and Interpersonal Skills 6, Data Collection 3, Disease Process 5, Growth & Development Across the Ages 2, Infection Control 5, Mental Health 4, Personal Care 6, Resident Rights 6, Role and Responsibility 11, Safety 8. Testing is on computers at every site. An audio version is ‘offered electronically only’, must be requested before the testing fee is paid, and ‘There is an additional charge for an audio exam’ — the handbook does not print that amount. Two North Dakota-specific rules on what you may bring: ‘You may bring a basic calculator. You may not use a cell phone or computer calculator’, and, at the Department’s direction, ‘foreign translation dictionaries (either paper or electronic format), translating devices, or non-approved language translators are not allowed.’ SKILL TEST: watched by an RN Test Observer. ‘Each of your randomly selected three (3) or four (4) tasks will have scenarios associated with them’, and ‘You will be allowed thirty (30) minutes to complete your tasks.’ The pass standard is step-level: ‘To pass the Skill Test, you must correctly perform all key (in bold font) steps and 80% of all non-key steps on each task assigned.’ Your first task is always drawn from three mandatory ones — assisting a resident with a bedpan and measuring and recording output; donning an isolation gown and gloves, emptying a urinary drainage bag, measuring and recording output and doffing the gown and gloves; or perineal care for a female resident on a manikin — each with hand washing embedded and demonstrated at the end. ‘You will receive two or three randomly selected tasks’ after that, and ‘Steps that are only verbalized WILL NOT COUNT.’ ATTEMPTS: three, then back to school. The rule requires the program to advise a failing candidate of the inadequate areas ‘and that the individual has not more than three opportunities to take the competency evaluation’, and ‘If the individual seeking registration fails the competency evaluation on the third attempt, the individual must enroll in and complete a department-approved certified nurse aide training program… prior to taking the competency evaluation again’ (33-43-01-08(3)-(4)). A retest is paid for by the part you failed. Results reach the registry quickly: a record of successful completion ‘must be included in the nurse aide registry within fourteen days of the date the individual was found to be competent.’

Renewal & continuing education

Every 24 months for the certified nurse aide category, and the renewal test is EMPLOYMENT — not coursework and not a fee. ‘Registry status is limited to twenty-four months. Upon receipt of a completed certified nurse aide renewal application, and verification of employment within the immediate past twenty-four months, the certified nurse aide registry status will be updated to indicate current status’ (33-43-01-11(1)(d)). The work threshold is the federal one: ‘A certified nurse aide who has not performed at least eight hours of nursing or nursing-related services for pay within a continuous twenty-four-month period shall complete a department-approved training and competency evaluation program or a department-approved competency evaluation to renew current registry status’ (33-43-01-11(1)(e)). NOTICE, AND WHY YOUR ADDRESS MATTERS: ‘Initial CNA certification is two years; renewal is required approximately every two years… Renewal notices will be mailed 60 days before the renewal date to the last known address on file with the Registry’, and ‘The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) must be kept informed of your current address.’ Renewal is filed through the Department’s online registry services; paper applications are not processed. THE DATE IS ROLLING FOR CNAs AND FIXED FOR EVERYONE ELSE — this is the North Dakota detail most often stated wrongly. The Department: ‘Any category coupled with a Certified Nurse Aide has a flexible expiration date based on the CNA’s last day worked. Initial application date flexible but renewal will be September 30 for Nurse Aide, Home Health Aide, Medication Aide 1 and Medication Aide 2 unless coupled with Certified Nurse Aide.’ So a nurse aide, home health aide or medication assistant who is ALSO a CNA renews on the CNA’s rolling date; one who is not renews every second September 30, with the $25 fee. NONE is published as a condition of keeping certified nurse aide registry status in North Dakota. What the rule asks for at renewal is a completed application and ‘verification of employment within the immediate past twenty-four months’ (33-43-01-11(1)(d)), with the eight-hours-of-paid-work floor at 33-43-01-11(1)(e); no continuing education, in-service total or course requirement appears anywhere in the renewal provision. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16 and found not to impose continuing education on the aide: N.D.C.C. ch. 23-44 in full, N.D. Admin. Code ch. 33-43-01 in full (all 26 sections), the Department’s Certified Nurse Aide Information page, its Nurse Aide Registry page, its Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program page, its Nurse Aide Training Program Application for Approval (April 2026), and the state-linked North Dakota Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook. ONE ADJACENT REQUIREMENT IS EASY TO MISREAD AS CONTINUING EDUCATION AND IS NOT: the NURSE AIDE category — a different registry category from the certified nurse aide — must file ‘verification of competence within the past twelve months’ with its $25 renewal (33-43-01-11(3)(d)). That is a competency attestation on a different credential, not CE, and it does not apply to CNAs.

How to apply

Applications are handled by North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Health Facilities Unit — Nurse Aide Registry. The Unit states its own federal designation: ‘The Health Facilities Unit is designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency responsible for the registration of certified nursing assistants, CNAs. In addition to maintaining the NA registry, the Unit receives and investigates allegations of abuse in long term care facilities.’ Testing is contracted out: ‘The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has approved Headmaster, LLP to provide tests and scoring services for North Dakota nurse aide testing.’ The State Board of Nursing neither issues nor holds this credential; the statute gives it a consultation role only — in adopting the rules, ’the department shall consult with the state board of nursing and other key stakeholders’ (N.D.C.C. 23-44-02(2)).. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in North Dakota

North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Health Facilities Unit — Nurse Aide Registry (‘Nurse Aide Registry Online Services’) publishes a public license search . It covers The North Dakota Nurse Aide Registry, across all of its categories. This is the state’s own service, not a contractor’s: the Department links it from both its Certified Nurse Aide Information page and its Nurse Aide Registry page as ‘Nurse Aide Registry Online Services’, and the page itself carries the Nurse Aide Registry’s address and phone number in Bismarck. It is a whole services hub rather than a bare lookup — the same page offers online applications (‘CNA Endorsement/Reciprocity’, home health aide, nurse aide, medication assistant), renewals, address and name changes, ‘Print your registration card’, ‘Print a CNA verification letter’, facility incident reporting, and ‘View the validated abuse list’. The lookup itself sits behind a link labelled ‘Verify a registration’, under the heading ‘Registration Verifications’: ‘To look up a registrants information, please click the “Verify a registration” link below.’ WHAT IS NOT PUBLISHED: which fields that search accepts. The Department does not list them on the page that carries the link, and the search screen’s own address could not be determined — it opens from the ‘Verify a registration’ link, and the page as read here carried no link addresses. So as of August 16, 2026 there is no published field list to state here, and this record states none. A SEPARATE WARNING FOR ANYONE FOLLOWING OLDER INSTRUCTIONS: the state-linked candidate handbook directs readers to a different address, services.ndnar.org, and to a navigation path beginning at health.nd.gov. That address no longer answers at all, as of August 16, 2026; health.nd.gov now forwards to the Health and Human Services site, where the menu names in those instructions no longer match. The address above is the one the Department itself links today.

Records come from North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Health Facilities Unit — Nurse Aide Registry (‘Nurse Aide Registry Online Services’)’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.

Frequently asked questions

Is a North Dakota CNA a licence, a certification, or a registry listing?

It is a certification that IS a registry listing — North Dakota builds the two together in its statute. A ‘certified nurse aide’ means ‘an individual who is registered on the nurse aide registry and who has either successfully completed the requirements for the department-approved training and competency evaluation program or has successfully completed the requirements of the department-approved competency evaluation program.’ The rule then makes the registry the enforcement point: you may not be employed as, or hold yourself out to be, a certified nurse aide unless you are registered on it. There is no licence, and the Board of Nursing does not issue or hold the credential — the statute gives it only a consultation role in writing the rules (’the department shall consult with the state board of nursing and other key stakeholders’). The credential comes from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Facilities Unit, which is ‘designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency responsible for the registration of certified nursing assistants.’

How many training hours does North Dakota require?

75 hours minimum, and the rule states it directly: a certified nurse aide training program must consist ‘of a minimum of seventy-five hours.’ Two blocks inside that are fixed. Sixteen hours of classroom training must come BEFORE any hands-on contact with residents, on five named topics — communication and interpersonal skills, infection control, safety and emergency procedures including the Heimlich manoeuvre, promoting residents’ independence, and respecting residents’ rights. And at least sixteen hours must be supervised practical training. If you are already working at a facility, the rest must be finished ‘within four months of the date of first employment.’ North Dakota does not publish a classroom/lab/clinical split beyond those two floors — its own program-approval form leaves the hours fields blank for the school to fill in. Be careful with a figure that circulates as North Dakota’s CNA hours: the 40 hours of theory, 8 of laboratory and 32 of clinical in North Dakota’s rules belong to the Medication Assistant II program, not to the nurse aide.

What does it cost to become a CNA in North Dakota?

For the certified nurse aide category, nothing to the state. The rule is explicit: ‘An individual seeking initial certified nurse aide registry status or registry renewal as a certified nurse aide on the department’s nurse aide registry may not be charged a fee’, and the Department’s own page lists ‘Certified Nurse Aide – NO Fee.’ Training and testing are also protected if a facility employs you or has offered you a job — a program ‘must ensure’ such aides ‘are not charged for any portion of the nurse aide training program, including fees for textbooks or other required course materials’, and the same applies to the competency evaluation. What does cost money: a retest, where ‘you will need to pay for the portion you failed’; the audio version of the knowledge exam, which carries an unpublished additional charge; a $25 test review deposit, refunded if the review goes your way; and the OTHER registry categories — nurse aide, home health aide and medication assistant I and II are $25 each, non-refundable, at registration and again at renewal.

Who gives the North Dakota CNA exam, and what is on it?

Headmaster / D&S Diversified Technologies, approved by the Department of Health and Human Services. There are two parts and you must pass both. The knowledge exam is 72 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes on a computer, and you need 75% to pass; an audio version is available electronically if you request it before paying. You may bring a basic calculator but not a phone, and translation dictionaries and translating devices are not allowed. The skill test is watched by an RN Test Observer: three or four randomly selected tasks in 30 minutes, the first always drawn from three mandatory ones (bedpan with output measurement; isolation gown and gloves with a urinary drainage bag; or perineal care on a manikin), each with hand washing embedded. To pass you must ‘correctly perform all key (in bold font) steps and 80% of all non-key steps on each task assigned’, and steps you only describe out loud do not count.

How many times can you take the North Dakota nurse aide competency evaluation?

Three. The rule requires the program to tell a failing candidate which areas were inadequate ‘and that the individual has not more than three opportunities to take the competency evaluation.’ After a third failure the route back is retraining, not another booking: ‘If the individual seeking registration fails the competency evaluation on the third attempt, the individual must enroll in and complete a department-approved certified nurse aide training program… prior to taking the competency evaluation again.’

How do you renew a North Dakota CNA registration, and is there continuing education?

Every 24 months, by application plus ‘verification of employment within the immediate past twenty-four months’, and there is no continuing education requirement and no fee. The work threshold is eight hours: ‘A certified nurse aide who has not performed at least eight hours of nursing or nursing-related services for pay within a continuous twenty-four-month period shall complete a department-approved training and competency evaluation program or a department-approved competency evaluation to renew.’ Renewal notices are mailed 60 days ahead to your last known address, which is why the state insists you keep the address current, and everything is filed online — the Health Facilities Unit does not process paper applications. One North Dakota quirk worth knowing: a CNA’s expiry date is rolling, based on the last day worked, while the nurse aide, home health aide and medication assistant categories renew on September 30 every second year unless they are paired with a CNA.

What happens if a North Dakota CNA registration expires?

It depends on how long, and the rule sets three tiers. Thirty days or less: the Department notifies you and your employer that you ‘must immediately cease to work until the renewal application process is completed.’ More than thirty days to six months: the same stop-work notice, plus notice to the state survey agency. More than six months: stop work, and ‘The individual’s registry status will no longer be recognized by the department. To obtain current registry status again, the individual must follow the process for initial application for registry status.’ Where you still qualify, there is a Reactivation by Examination route — but only for someone who was previously on the North Dakota registry AND who reached it through an approved training program in the first place, since the exam-challenge route ended on July 1, 2024.

I am a CNA in another state — can I transfer to North Dakota?

Yes, and North Dakota’s rule is worded as a grant rather than as an invitation to apply: ‘Certified nurse aide applicants for the nurse aide registry who submit proof of meeting the requirements of another jurisdiction will be granted reciprocity and entered on the nurse aide registry and may use the title “certified nurse aide”.’ The conditions are a current registry status in the other state and a clean record: someone who has ‘met the requirements for registry listing as a certified nurse aide in other states, ha[s] a current registry status, and no validated finding may be endorsed onto the department’s registry.’ You must still meet North Dakota’s requirements for active registry status. The application is filed online, listed on the state’s registry services as ‘CNA Endorsement/Reciprocity’; paper applications are not processed, and no fee can be charged for certified nurse aide registration.

Is a 'nurse aide' the same thing as a 'certified nurse aide' in North Dakota?

No, and this is the mistake most likely to cost someone money in North Dakota. The registry carries four separate categories. CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE is the nursing-facility credential: 75 hours of approved training, the state’s two-part competency exam, and no fee. NURSE AIDE is a different, lower category for people working in ‘a health care facility or other setting that is not a nursing facility or a home health agency’ — its training is defined by topic rather than hours, its competency evaluation is ‘completed by a licensed nurse or employer’ rather than by the state’s test vendor, it costs $25, and it renews on September 30 with proof of competence within the past twelve months. HOME HEALTH AIDE is a third category with its own 75-clock-hour rule and its own $25 fee. MEDICATION ASSISTANT I and II are add-ons: you must be an NA or CNA for MA I, and only a CNA can be an MA II.

Who does not need to be on the North Dakota nurse aide registry?

The statute names three groups outright: the registry rules ‘do not apply to a licensed health care professional practicing within the scope of that profession, an unlicensed assistive person under chapter 43-12.1, or a volunteer in the course of providing services without pay.’ A fourth exemption covers medication administration in a primary or secondary school under a state-authorised program, where the individual has been trained and has written parental consent. Separately — and this is an allowance rather than an exemption — someone enrolled in an approved program may work under a licensed nurse’s supervision ‘for no more than four months without obtaining registry status.’ Note what is NOT exempt: working outside a nursing home does not put you outside the registry, it usually puts you in the nurse aide or home health aide category instead.

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in North Dakota.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 16, 2026.

We re-fetch every cited source on a weekly schedule: see what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.