Direct support professional training in North Dakota is governed by North Dakota Health and Human Services through its Developmental Disabilities Section, under the DD Training Policy issued as PI 18-05 (revised April 2023). The policy applies to licensed DD providers — roughly 40 to 50 agencies statewide — serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The sequence starts with orientation, due within 45 days of hire and before staff work without direct supervision. Orientation covers active treatment, individual rights and HCBS protections, person-centered planning, health and safety, abuse and neglect including prohibited practices, evacuation procedures, and HIPAA; the policy stars certain orientation topics for annual refresher. Positive behavior supports training is due within 90 days, and hands-on CPR/First Aid certification is required.

The distinctive layer is the state curriculum: within 18 months of hire, staff must complete modules of the North Dakota Community Staff Training Program (CSTP), developed and administered by the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD) at Minot State University under contract with the department. Part-time DSPs complete 3 core modules; full-time DSPs complete 4 core modules plus 2 electives, with the medication module mandatory among them; QDDPs complete a larger set of 6 core plus 6 additional modules. The medication module includes a test and practicum, with annual recertification for staff who administer medications.

Medication administration, in other words, is gated inside the CSTP: the state's medication module, its test, and its practicum are the authorization pathway, renewed annually. That module — like orientation itself — is not open to substitution.

Delivery model: North Dakota is a hybrid. The CSTP modules are the default state curriculum, but the DD Training Policy contains an explicit crosswalk clause — it accepts training from another education provider accredited by the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) when it covers substantially the same subject matter. That clause opens the core and elective module requirements (though not the medication module and not orientation) to NADSP-accredited outside curricula.

This is where Training and eTracking Solutions fits precisely: TeTS is a NADSP-accredited education provider, which is the exact credential North Dakota's policy names. Providers can use TeTS's NADSP-accredited courses to satisfy CSTP core and elective module requirements where subject matter aligns, while running orientation in-house and the medication module through CSTP as the policy requires — with TeTS tracking the 45-day, 90-day, and 18-month deadlines and annual refreshers across all of it, and producing documentation that stands up in departmental reviews.