Protocol · RN · South Carolina
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in South Carolina
Registered Nurses practice independently in South Carolina. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
General RN licensure (S.C. Code Title 40, Ch. 33) is not subject to physician supervision or a practice agreement — RNs work within physician orders, standing orders, and facility protocols, categorically distinct from the APRN practice-agreement regime above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in South Carolina
South Carolina requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The South Carolina 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 South Carolina Nurse Practice Act, S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 33. Unlike the written practice agreement required of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, South Carolina law does not require a Board-filed 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.
- A voluntary protocol also carries 2 scope, 2 education and 2 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
What South Carolina 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 SC; they administer medications per physician/APRN orders.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a practice agreement in SC, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional Corporation under Title 33, Chapter 19 for nursing services; non-clinical businesses an RN might own fall outside this regime entirely.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About South Carolina's rules
A physician may not hold practice agreements/scope-of-practice guidelines with more than a COMBINED 6 full-time-equivalent PA+NP+CNM+CNS at once (§40-47-195(D)(1)(c)) — a single shared cap, not four separate ones. A widely-repeated '3 PA' cap was repealed in 2019 (Act 32). SC remains restricted-practice for APRNs; a 2,000-hour full-practice-authority bill (S.45/H.3580) is pending, not yet law.
Other clinicians in South Carolina: see the state overview.