Protocol · RN · Colorado
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Colorado
Registered Nurses practice independently in Colorado. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
General RN licensure (Title 12, Art. 255, Part 1) is not subject to physician supervision in Colorado, distinct from the Advanced Practice Registry roles above. Colorado Medical Board Rule 800 (3 CCR 713-30) separately classifies non-surgical medical-aesthetic procedures (laser/IPL, injectables) as requiring physician delegation regardless of RN licensure — see `esthetician` entry for the same delegation framework applied to a non-nursing license.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Colorado
Colorado requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Colorado Board of Nursing governs registered nurses here.
The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the orders, standing orders, or delegation of the Physician, consistent with Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 12, Article 255. Colorado law does not require a supervision or collaboration agreement for this Registered Nurse's general scope of practice; the Physician shall instead be available to the Registered Nurse for consultation regarding clinical and patient care issues arising under any order or delegation.
- A voluntary protocol also carries 2 scope, 1 education and 2 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
What Colorado does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to registered nurses regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
Not codified
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified
Meeting cadence
Not codified
Prescriptive authority
No agreement needed to prescribe · no controlled-substance authority
RNs do not have prescriptive authority in Colorado under any circumstance; prescribing requires APRN or PA licensure plus the applicable authority framework above, or physician/dentist/podiatrist licensure.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative-practice agreement in Colorado. This doesn't extend to delegated medical-aesthetic procedures — see notes.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — An RN may own a nursing-scope entity (e.g., a home-health or staffing business) — no CPOM-style physician-ownership restriction was found for RN-scope practice, same secondary-sourced analysis as the APRN entries above.
For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses performing delegated non-surgical medical-cosmetic procedures, Rule 800 (3 CCR 713-30) requires physician delegation and 'personal and responsible' oversight of those specific services regardless of who owns the facility — the RN may own the business but the physician retains delegation authority over the medical-aesthetic scope itself. A 2026 bill (HB26-1249) would have expanded ownership eligibility for medical-aesthetics corporations specifically to RNs (and APRNs/PAs/estheticians) — postponed indefinitely 3/25/2026; see `pa` entry.
Sources for the supervision rules (3)
About Colorado's rules
Colorado is a full-practice-authority state for all five APRN roles (NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) — no physician agreement is ever required to practice. APRNs instead face a 750-hour prescribing mentorship (not necessarily physician-led) before 'full' (vs. 'provisional') prescriptive authority — a credentialing gate, not a supervision relationship. PAs moved from physician 'supervision' to an hours-gated 'collaborative agreement' under SB23-083 (2023) — not 'HB23-1214,' which could not be located and appears to be a misattribution. Colorado licenses estheticians; it has not deregulated the profession.
Other clinicians in Colorado: see the state overview.