Protocol · RN · North Dakota
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in North Dakota
Registered Nurses practice independently in North Dakota. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
N.D. Cent. Code § 43-12.1-02 defines an RN as practicing 'independently and interdependently' — no collaborative/supervisory-agreement requirement with a physician exists for RN licensure itself, distinct from the separate APRN advanced-licensure layer above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in North Dakota
North Dakota requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The North Dakota 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 N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1. North Dakota law does not require a 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.
Source: N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1
- A voluntary protocol also carries 2 scope, 2 education and 2 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1statute
North Dakota Nurse Practice Act, governing Nurse Practitioner and Registered Nurse licensure and practice.
What North Dakota 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 North Dakota; physician orders govern the medical components of care in standard practice.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to a collaboration agreement in North Dakota, unlike the APRN categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — General RN licensure does not require a healing-arts professional corporation. Non-clinical businesses an RN might own fall under general corporation/LLC law rather than N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-31.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
- N.D. Cent. Code § 43-12.1-02 — Registered nurse definition
About North Dakota's rules
H.B. 1175 (2019, eff. 2020) and a 2022 rule amendment repealed ND's old PA supervision-contract/ratio/countersignature model — PAs are now CONDITIONAL only below 4,000 practice hours or outside a qualifying facility. All four APRN roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS) are FULL independent practice with no collaboration agreement of any kind.
Other clinicians in North Dakota: see the state overview.