Protocol · RN · Hawaii
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Hawaii
Registered Nurses practice independently in Hawaii. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
RNs (general licensure, not an APRN) are not subject to physician-supervision or collaborative-agreement requirements in Hawaii — RN scope under HRS Ch. 457 carries no physician-oversight language, in contrast to the PA framework above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Hawaii
Hawaii requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Hawaii 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 Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 457. Hawaii 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, 2 education and 2 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
What Hawaii 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 independent prescriptive authority in Hawaii.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement in Hawaii.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional corporation under HRS § 415A-9 for nursing services; non-clinical businesses an RN might own (staffing agency, wellness business) fall outside § 415A-9 and carry no ownership restriction.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About Hawaii's rules
Hawaii grants APRNs (NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) full independent practice with no collaborative-agreement requirement (HRS § 457-8.5); prescriptive authority is a separate application, not automatic. Hawaii has no general corporate-practice-of-medicine statute — HRS § 415A-9 requires professional-corporation shareholders to be licensed, but doesn't clearly resolve multi-discipline (e.g. physician+APRN) ownership.
Other clinicians in Hawaii: see the state overview.