Protocol · RN · Minnesota
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Minnesota
Registered Nurses practice independently in Minnesota. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
General RN licensure (§ 148.171, subd. 20) carries no physician-supervision or collaborative-agreement requirement — a categorically different concept from APRN's advanced/prescribing scope. RNs execute orders from authorized prescribers rather than practicing under a supervision relationship themselves.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Minnesota
Minnesota requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Minnesota 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 Minn. Stat. ch. 148. Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota; they execute orders from an authorized prescriber (physician, APRN, PA, dentist).
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to a collaborative practice agreement in Minnesota, unlike the APRN categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional firm under Minn. Stat. ch. 319B — RN licensure rides on the same 'registered nursing' § 319B.02, subd. 19 category as the APRN roles.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About Minnesota's rules
H.F. 1794 repealed the NP/CNS 2,080-hour postgraduate collaborative-agreement rule (Minn. Stat. § 148.211, subd. 1c) effective August 1, 2026 — already in force. PA remains CONDITIONAL under a separate, still-active 2,080-hour rule (§ 147A.02(c)); 2025 reform bills (H.F. 89/S.F. 1083) to loosen it are pending, not confirmed enacted.
Other clinicians in Minnesota: see the state overview.