diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
index b3e5586ae..feaf3e792 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c
@@ -509,13 +509,15 @@ nvme_qpair_process_completions(struct nvme_qpair *qpair, uint32_t max_completion
 			qpair->phase = !qpair->phase;
 		}
 
-		spdk_mmio_write_4(qpair->cq_hdbl, qpair->cq_head);
-
 		if (++num_completions == max_completions) {
 			break;
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (num_completions > 0) {
+		spdk_mmio_write_4(qpair->cq_hdbl, qpair->cq_head);
+	}
+
 	return num_completions;
 }