Protocol · RN · Kentucky
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Kentucky
Registered Nurses practice independently in Kentucky. 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 in Kentucky. KRS 314.011 defines registered nursing practice (assessment, care planning, delegation/supervision of other personnel) with no physician-oversight language; RNs administer medication/treatment 'as prescribed' by an authorized prescriber, but that is a scope limit on prescribing, not a supervision requirement on the RN's own practice.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Kentucky
Kentucky requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Kentucky 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 the Kentucky Nursing Practice Act, KRS Chapter 314. Kentucky law does not require a collaborative 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky; KRS 314.011 only authorizes administering medication/treatment as prescribed by a physician, PA, APRN, or dentist.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement in Kentucky, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional LLC (KRS Ch. 275) or PSC (KRS Ch. 274) — 'nurses' are explicitly listed as an eligible profession, so an RN may own a nursing-services PLLC/PSC. Non-clinical businesses an RN might own (staffing agency, general wellness business) fall outside these chapters entirely and carry no ownership restriction.
Kentucky's single-profession-ownership reading (KRS 274.015) means an RN-owned nursing PSC or PLLC likely cannot include a physician co-owner the way North Carolina's § 55B-14 permits. For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses performing delegated medical procedures, RN ownership of the entity does not remove the requirement for physician delegation and oversight of the procedures themselves.
Sources for the supervision rules (3)
- KRS 314.011 — Definitions (Registered Nursing Practice)secondary
- Kentucky Board of Nursing — RN Scope of Practice
- KRS Ch. 274, 275 — Professional Service Corporations; Limited Liability Companies (ownership eligibility)
About Kentucky's rules
KY's PSC/PLLC statutes (KRS Ch. 274, 275) are commonly read to restrict ownership to persons rendering the 'same or related' professional service — a physician generally cannot co-own a single PSC/PLLC with a PA or APRN, unlike NC/VA's explicit combination statutes. Secondary-sourced interpretation, not a confirmed ruling — verify before relying on it. Kentucky opted out of the federal Medicare CRNA supervision requirement in April 2012; facilities may still impose their own.
Other clinicians in Kentucky: see the state overview.