Protocol · RN · Pennsylvania
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in Pennsylvania
Registered Nurses practice independently in Pennsylvania. 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 Pennsylvania under the Professional Nursing Law — RN practice is independent within the scope of professional nursing, distinct from the CRNP/CNM/CNS collaborative-agreement regimes above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing governs registered nurses here.
The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the orders, standing orders, or delegation of the Physician. Unlike the Collaborative Agreement required of Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners, Pennsylvania law does not require a written 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania; they administer medications only as ordered by an authorized prescriber.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Same physician-only ownership regime governs any clinical PC an RN might practice through, but non-clinical businesses (staffing, home health) fall outside that regime entirely and carry no ownership restriction.
For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses, an RN performs delegated laser/injectable procedures under physician delegation (a Medical Director) rather than independent RN authority — ownership and clinical-delegation authority are separate questions.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
- 63 P.S. § 211 et seq. — Professional Nursing Law
About Pennsylvania's rules
Pennsylvania has no independent-practice pathway for CRNPs — SB 25-style full-practice-authority bills have been introduced every session without passing. PA (physician assistant) reform via Acts 78/79 of 2021 removed prior Board pre-approval of written agreements and the flat 100%-countersignature rule after the first year, but a written agreement and supervision remain mandatory. PA is a CPOM state: only licensed physicians may own a medical professional corporation.
Other clinicians in Pennsylvania: see the state overview.