diff --git a/include/spdk/nvme.h b/include/spdk/nvme.h
index 3ab81878b..6c9d390cf 100644
--- a/include/spdk/nvme.h
+++ b/include/spdk/nvme.h
@@ -1246,26 +1246,6 @@ int spdk_nvme_ctrlr_cmd_io_raw_with_md(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr,
 int32_t spdk_nvme_qpair_process_completions(struct spdk_nvme_qpair *qpair,
 		uint32_t max_completions);
 
-/**
- * Process IO message sent to controller from external module.
- *
- * This call process requests from the ring, send IO to an allocated qpair or
- * admin commands in its context. This call is non-blocking and intended to be
- * polled by SPDK thread to provide safe environment for NVMe request
- * completition sent by external module to controller.
- *
- * The caller must ensure that each controller is polled by only one thread at
- * a time.
- *
- * This function may be called at any point while the controller is attached to
- * the SPDK NVMe driver.
- *
- * \param ctrlr Opaque handle to NVMe controller.
- *
- * \return number of processed external IO messages.
- */
-int spdk_nvme_io_msg_process(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr);
-
 /**
  * Send the given admin command to the NVMe controller.
  *
diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
index e89c1c2d0..8d3e35237 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_ctrlr.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include "spdk/stdinc.h"
 
 #include "nvme_internal.h"
+#include "nvme_io_msg.h"
 
 #include "spdk/env.h"
 #include "spdk/string.h"
@@ -2646,14 +2647,30 @@ int32_t
 spdk_nvme_ctrlr_process_admin_completions(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr)
 {
 	int32_t num_completions;
+	int32_t rc;
 
 	nvme_robust_mutex_lock(&ctrlr->ctrlr_lock);
+
 	if (ctrlr->keep_alive_interval_ticks) {
 		nvme_ctrlr_keep_alive(ctrlr);
 	}
-	num_completions = spdk_nvme_qpair_process_completions(ctrlr->adminq, 0);
+
+	rc = spdk_nvme_io_msg_process(ctrlr);
+	if (rc < 0) {
+		nvme_robust_mutex_unlock(&ctrlr->ctrlr_lock);
+		return rc;
+	}
+	num_completions = rc;
+
+	rc = spdk_nvme_qpair_process_completions(ctrlr->adminq, 0);
 	nvme_robust_mutex_unlock(&ctrlr->ctrlr_lock);
 
+	if (rc < 0) {
+		num_completions = rc;
+	} else {
+		num_completions += rc;
+	}
+
 	return num_completions;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_io_msg.h b/lib/nvme/nvme_io_msg.h
index 2efa5fcaf..69bf17fe5 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_io_msg.h
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_io_msg.h
@@ -58,6 +58,26 @@ struct nvme_io_msg_producer {
 int nvme_io_msg_send(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr, uint32_t nsid, spdk_nvme_io_msg_fn fn,
 		     void *arg);
 
+/**
+ * Process IO message sent to controller from external module.
+ *
+ * This call process requests from the ring, send IO to an allocated qpair or
+ * admin commands in its context. This call is non-blocking and intended to be
+ * polled by SPDK thread to provide safe environment for NVMe request
+ * completition sent by external module to controller.
+ *
+ * The caller must ensure that each controller is polled by only one thread at
+ * a time.
+ *
+ * This function may be called at any point while the controller is attached to
+ * the SPDK NVMe driver.
+ *
+ * \param ctrlr Opaque handle to NVMe controller.
+ *
+ * \return number of processed external IO messages.
+ */
+int spdk_nvme_io_msg_process(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr);
+
 int nvme_io_msg_ctrlr_start(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr,
 			    struct nvme_io_msg_producer *io_msg_producer);
 void nvme_io_msg_ctrlr_stop(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr,
diff --git a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
index 0accdeba1..8ca2dc5b9 100644
--- a/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
+++ b/module/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
@@ -210,13 +210,6 @@ bdev_nvme_poll_adminq(void *arg)
 {
 	struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr = arg;
 
-	/* Process io messages that were passed from non-polled mode threads
-	 * to this ctrlr. This is used as part of nvme cuse support for surfacing
-	 * /dev nodes that can be used by standard Linux management applications
-	 * like nvme-cli.
-	 */
-	spdk_nvme_io_msg_process(ctrlr);
-
 	return spdk_nvme_ctrlr_process_admin_completions(ctrlr);
 }