Protocol · RN · Michigan
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Michigan
Registered Nurses practice independently in Michigan. 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 a physician-supervision or collaborative-practice-agreement requirement in Michigan. RNs practice under a physician's orders, standing orders, or delegation, consistent with the Michigan Public Health Code's nursing part — categorically different from the APRN delegation frameworks above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Michigan
Michigan requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Michigan 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 Michigan Public Health Code, MCL 333.17201 et seq. Michigan law does not require a practice 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 Michigan 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 Michigan; they administer medications pursuant to the orders of a licensed prescriber.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure has never been subject to a physician collaboration/supervision agreement in Michigan.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — General RN licensure; the physician-only PSC/PLLC regime does not apply to non-clinical businesses an RN might own
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About Michigan's rules
Michigan has no independent-practice pathway for NPs, CNMs, CNSs, or PAs — specialty certification alone never grants autonomous practice, and delegated authority is renewable/revocable rather than a one-time threshold. CRNAs may deliver anesthesia care independently within the perioperative period but must still maintain a collaborating physician/dentist/podiatrist relationship. A PA-only PLLC has been prohibited since 2010.
Other clinicians in Michigan: see the state overview.