Your initial Arkansas nursing assistant certificate is valid for 24 months. A renewal reminder notice should have been mailed to you approximately 60 days before the expiration of your certificate. The notice goes to the home address currently listed on the registry and is therefore important to make sure it is accurate. A copy of the Arkansas nursing assistant registry renewal form is also available online and you can download and print it from here.
To keep your certificate active, you will need to renew your certificate before the expiration date, however, you should not send in your renewal form more than 60 days before your certification expires. If you do, it will be discarded and will not be processed.
To be eligible to renew your certification, you must have worked for pay as a nursing assistant providing nursing-related care for at least eight hours during your most recent certification period. Nursing assistants who are currently working are re-certified for 24 months. Nursing assistants who are not currently working are re-certified for 24 months beginning with the last day worked.
Once your Arkansas nursing assistant registry renewal form is processed and you are determined to be eligible for renewal, a new certificate and wallet card showing your new expiration date will be mailed to you. The Arkansas Nursing Assistant Registry will also be updated with your current information. Nursing assistants with employment restrictions on the registry for resident abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property or criminal record disqualifications are not eligible for renewal. The state of Arkansas no longer requires nursing assistants to pay the renewal fee.