1.3 Wyoming Nurse Aide Registry, Renewal, Reciprocity, and the CNA II Advancement Ladder
Key Takeaways
- Wyoming CNA certificates renew biennially: WSBN posts renewal applications on or before October 1 of every even year and all certificates expire December 31 of the renewal year.
- Under WSBN Chapter 2 Section 14(e), effective December 17, 2025, a CNA demonstrates continuing competency in the past two years by one of three options: 400 hours of employment in the CNA role, 40 hours of continuing education, or passing the NATCEP or a similar national exam.
- Admission to a CNA II program requires a current unencumbered CNA certificate plus at least 1,500 hours of documented work as a CNA during the last five (5) years.
- A WSBN-approved CNA II course is a minimum of 30 hours — 15 classroom and 15 skills laboratory — with a written final of at least 80% and a practicum in which 100% of the critical criteria must be met.
- The CNA II may remove an indwelling catheter and obtain a specimen from the catheter port, but catheter insertion is not in the CNA II role; deep suctioning, applying medication to a wound, attaching IV tubing, and starting or stopping IV fluids are all prohibited.
Wyoming Nurse Aide Registry, Renewal, Reciprocity, and the CNA II Advancement Ladder
Passing both components of the D&SDT-Headmaster competency evaluation makes you eligible for listing on the Wyoming Nurse Aide Registry (WYNAR). Registry placement is what legally authorizes you to work as a Certified Nursing Assistant in Wyoming long-term care facilities, hospitals, assisted living centers, hospice agencies and home health settings.
[!NOTE] Passing the exam does not by itself certify you. The candidate handbook is explicit: "When you pass your exam, you may be certified and listed on the Wyoming Nurse Aide Registry ONLY AFTER you have met all Wyoming State Board of Nursing requirements." Once all application documentation is received, the WSBN-issued certificate may take 3–5 business days to process after test results arrive.
The Registry: What It Holds and Who Runs It
The Wyoming Nurse Aide Registry lists nurse aides who, through training, testing and experience, meet federal and state requirements to work as a nurse aide in Wyoming. Two functions matter to you throughout your career:
- Public credential verification. Employers verify certification status, dates and any specialized credentials through the WSBN license lookup. The Wyoming Department of Health also publishes a separate CNA registry of aides fully certified by WSBN to provide services in certified nursing homes and swing beds.
- Substantiated findings. The registry includes substantiated findings of nurse aide abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property, or exploitation involving a nurse aide at a WSBN-regulated facility. Nurse aides with misconduct restrictions on the registry are not eligible for renewal.
Under federal law a substantiated finding of abuse is permanent and can never be removed from a nurse aide registry. A single substantiated finding of neglect is the narrow exception: the individual may petition the state for removal after at least one year, and removal is granted only if the employment and personal history show no other abuse, neglect or misappropriation and the neglect was a singular occurrence. Either way, a finding on the registry bars employment as a nurse aide in facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
Biennial Renewal
Wyoming does not renew CNAs on their birthday or on the anniversary of their exam. WSBN Chapter 2 fixes a single statewide cycle:
THE WYOMING CNA RENEWAL CYCLE
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ON OR BEFORE OCTOBER 1 of every EVEN year
-> WSBN makes renewal applications available on the Board website
|
v
Submit: completed renewal application + fees
evidence of meeting competency under Chapter 2, Section 14
|
v
DECEMBER 31 of the renewal year
-> ALL licenses and certificates EXPIRE
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Your initial certificate may not cover a full two years, depending on where in the two-year period it was issued. Failure to receive a renewal notice from the Board does not excuse you from the renewal requirement, and practicing on an expired certificate is itself a violation.
Continuing Competency: The Current Three-Option Rule
This requirement changed recently, and stale copies of the old rule are still circulating — including in the August 2024 edition of the D&SDT-Headmaster candidate handbook, which still prints a superseded four-option version. The current rule is Chapter 2, Section 14(e) of the WSBN Rules, effective December 17, 2025.
[!IMPORTANT] A CNA shall demonstrate continuing competency by completing ONE of the following in the past two (2) years:
- (A) Four hundred (400) hours of employment in the CNA role; or
- (B) Forty (40) hours of continuing education; or
- (C) Successfully pass the NATCEP or similar national exam.
| Your situation over the past two years | Renewal route |
|---|---|
| You worked 400 or more hours in the CNA role | Option A — no continuing education required |
| You worked fewer than 400 hours, or none | Option B — complete 40 hours of continuing education |
| You are returning after a long gap and prefer to re-test | Option C — pass the NATCEP or a similar national exam |
There is no 16-hour minimum employment threshold in the Wyoming rule, and there is no sliding scale that trades partial work hours against a reduced continuing education total. You either reach 400 hours of employment, complete 40 hours of continuing education, or re-test.
[!CAUTION] Version trap. The older WSBN language — 400 hours; or 200 hours plus 15 hours of continuing education; or 30 hours of continuing education; or pass the NATCEP — appears in the August 2024 candidate handbook and on many third-party sites. It has been replaced. When a testing vendor's handbook and the regulator's current rule disagree, the regulator's rule controls. Verify against the WSBN Chapter 2 rule on the Board's website before you plan your continuing education.
If an applicant has not met the competency requirement within the past five (5) years, Chapter 2 requires them to complete a state-approved CNA training program again or to successfully pass the NATCEP or similar national exam again.
Out-of-State Endorsement
An aide holding an active certificate in another jurisdiction may be certified in Wyoming by endorsement rather than retesting. WSBN Chapter 2 requires the applicant to submit:
- Evidence of successful completion of a state-approved CNA training and competency evaluation program;
- Verification of an active certificate from another jurisdiction;
- A completed application and fees;
- CBC fingerprint cards and fees;
- Verification of initial certification by examination; and
- Evidence of meeting competency under Section 14 — the same 400 hours / 40 continuing education hours / NATCEP standard described above.
An applicant who cannot provide satisfactory verification of education, training, or competency must instead qualify by examination.
The Wyoming Advancement Ladder
Wyoming is one of a small group of states with a formal, board-regulated CNA II credential, and it layers a Medication Aide-Certified (MA-C) credential above it.
Wyoming Nursing Assistant Advancement Ladder
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| LPN / RN Licensure |
| - Wyoming community college ADN programs; University of Wyoming BSN |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
^
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MEDICATION AIDE-CERTIFIED (MA-C) |
| - Must first meet the qualifications for State CNA II certification |
| - Board-approved MA-C training and competency evaluation course |
| - Must pass a NATIONAL MA-C examination (max 5 attempts in 2 years) |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
^
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CNA II |
| - Current unencumbered CNA certificate |
| - 1,500 hours of documented CNA work during the LAST FIVE (5) YEARS |
| - Board-approved CNA II course: minimum 30 hours (15 classroom + |
| 15 skills lab), written final >= 80%, practicum 100% critical |
| - Certified by WSBN application; there is no separate WSBN CNA II exam |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
^
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CNA (CNA I) |
| - Approved NATCEP + D&SDT-Headmaster knowledge and skill test |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(A separate Home Health Aide certification requires a current CNA
certificate plus a Board-approved 16-hour training and competency
evaluation.)
CNA II Admission Requirements
The Board's CNA II Role & Course Requirements advisory opinion sets the student qualifications precisely:
- Hold a current, unencumbered CNA certificate.
- Have completed at least one thousand five hundred (1,500) hours of documented work as a CNA during the last five (5) years — not the last two.
- If the CNA certificate was issued within the past twelve months, WSBN will request verification of employment from the agency documenting hours worked, sent directly by the employer.
CNA II Course Standards
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Course length | Minimum 30 hours: 15 hours classroom instruction + 15 hours skills laboratory |
| Written final exam | Must pass with a minimum grade of 80% |
| Practicum exam | 100% of the critical criteria must be met |
| Faculty | Principal instructor is an RN with a current unencumbered license, 2 years full-time RN experience in a health care facility, and 1 year of relevant clinical experience |
| Clinical ratio | One faculty member to six (6) or fewer students (1:6) |
| Materials | Video demonstration alone is not acceptable; adequate materials for each skill are required |
CNA II certification is not issued until the didactic and clinical criteria are met and a CNA II application is approved through the WSBN. There is no separate WSBN-administered CNA II board examination — the course's own written final and practicum are the examinations.
The CNA II Scope of Practice
The advisory opinion is a closed list: "If an activity is not listed in this Advisory Opinion, it does not fall within the CNA II Role." The advanced skills are:
| Advanced skill | Key boundaries |
|---|---|
| Wound care | Only after assessment by a provider or RN. Includes wound cleansing, irrigation, and applying a clean or sterile dressing. The CNA II may NOT apply medication to any wound, including topical medications. |
| Sterile technique | Create and maintain a sterile field, don and doff sterile gloves, add sterile items, identify and report breaks in technique. |
| Urinary catheter | Explain catheter types, remove an indwelling catheter, and obtain a urine specimen from the catheter port. Document time to first void after removal. Catheter insertion is not in the CNA II role. |
| Elimination procedures | Ostomy, colostomy and ileostomy care, changing an ostomy pouch, recognizing impaction, bowel training programs, and administering enemas. |
| Oropharyngeal suctioning | Conscious and unconscious Yankauer suctioning at proper pressure. The CNA II may NOT perform deep suctioning. |
| Tracheostomy care | Stoma cleansing, changing the cannula, changing dressing and ties, suctioning, monitoring respirations. |
| Gastrostomy and PEG feeding tubes | Add enteral feeding to an existing infusion, instill water afterward, clamp the tube. Does not add new formula to remaining formula; rinses the bag with sterile water first. |
| Assisting with peripheral IV fluids | Set up IV equipment, hang fluids and prime tubing, routine site care, and discontinue a peripheral IV catheter. The CNA II may NOT attach IV tubing to the patient and may NOT start or stop IV fluids. |
| Nasogastric (NG) tube removal | Identify securement devices and aspiration risks, position the patient, discontinue the NG tube, provide oral care. |
| EKG | Proper 12-lead placement and giving the printout to the RN or provider. The CNA II may NOT interpret the EKG. |
| Bladder scanning | Patient preparation, correct scanning mode, gel and scan-head placement, cleaning the scanner before and after. |
| Ear irrigation | Irrigate the ear using saline with proper positioning. The CNA II may NOT use a curette. |
[!WARNING] Two tasks are frequently and wrongly attributed to the CNA II credential. Fingerstick (capillary) blood glucose testing is within the ordinary CNA role, not a CNA II-only skill — it is listed in the Board's CNA Role advisory under both basic nursing skills and specimen/diagnostic collection. And oxygen therapy is likewise a CNA-level task with a hard limit: the CNA sets up the delivery device, adjusts its fit, sets the flow rate as ordered by the provider, and reads SpO2, but is not allowed to adjust or titrate the oxygen flow rate or to adjust CPAP/BiPAP settings.
Professional judgment and decision-making responsibility may never be delegated to a CNA II. If the delegating RN or LPN is not on site, the direction must be recipient-specific and in writing.
Medication Aide-Certified (MA-C)
WSBN Chapter 2 sets the MA-C pathway in four steps. The applicant shall:
- Meet the qualifications for State CNA II certification — the MA-C sits above the CNA II, not beside it;
- Complete a Board-approved MA-C training and competency evaluation course;
- Submit a completed application and fees with evidence of course completion; and
- Successfully pass a national MA-C examination — with no more than five (5) attempts within the two (2) year period following course completion.
The ordinary CNA — as distinct from the MA-C — is limited to assisting with medications that are ordinarily self-administered, such as reminding a resident, removing a cap or blister pack, applying topical ointments to intact skin, inserting rectal suppositories, and administering over-the-counter eye drops. A CNA may never prefill insulin syringes, crush medications or mix them with food, select the dial or dose on a prefilled syringe, or fill medication boxes.
Bridging into Licensed Nursing
Practical experience as a CNA and CNA II is the most common on-ramp to licensed practice in Wyoming. The state's community colleges offer associate degree nursing programs, and the University of Wyoming offers the BSN, with articulation arrangements that let working aides move from CNA to ADN/RN to BSN while remaining employed.
A Wyoming CNA logged 280 hours of employment in the CNA role during the current two-year renewal cycle. Under the WSBN Chapter 2 continuing competency rule effective December 17, 2025, what must they do to renew?
Which requirement must a Wyoming CNA satisfy before being admitted to an approved CNA II training program?
Under the WSBN CNA II advisory opinion, which set of tasks is within the delegated scope of a Wyoming CNA II?