Protocol · NP · South Dakota
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in South Dakota
Required. South Dakota law names the instrument a Written Collaborative Agreement, and the clinical protocol is the content that instrument carries. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Once the 1,040-hour threshold is met, no ongoing agreement of any kind is required — SDCL 36-9A-13.1 only imposes a general duty to 'collaborate' (communicate/consult/refer as appropriate), not a document or physician-specific gate. SD has used this model since a 2017 reform (SL 2017, ch 171).
Independent practice requires: ≥1,040 practice hours as a licensed CNP (or CNM); until then, a written collaborative agreement with a physician OR an already-independent CNP/CNM (SDCL 36-9A-4(5)) — the collaborator need not be a physician.
What a South Dakota Written Collaborative Agreement must contain
Governed by the South Dakota Board of Nursing and the South Dakota Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Written Collaborative Agreement must satisfy.
Unless the Nurse Practitioner has completed one thousand forty (1,040) practice hours under a written collaborative agreement, the Nurse Practitioner shall practice pursuant to a written collaborative agreement, signed by the Nurse Practitioner and the Physician, describing the agreed overlapping scope of advanced practice nursing and medical functions the Nurse Practitioner may perform, as defined by S.D. Codified Laws ch. 36-9A.
Once the Nurse Practitioner's one thousand forty (1,040) practice hours are completed and documented, the collaborative agreement may be retired and the Nurse Practitioner may practice independently. Before those hours are completed, the Nurse Practitioner may not practice in a setting without additional advanced practice registered nurses or licensed physicians available for mentoring, consultation, or advisement.
- The Written Collaborative Agreement also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Written Collaborative Agreement has to carry, from South Dakota's supervision rules.
Proximity
Not codified — left to the agreement
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
SDCL 36-9A-12(4)(b): may prescribe, administer or furnish 'over-the-counter, legend, and controlled drugs or substances listed on Schedule II in chapter 34-20B.' The statute's plain text names only Schedule II, while the Board of Nursing's own CNP practice guidance describes broader controlled-substance authority; confirm with the Board whether Schedule III–V are covered by the same clause or by board rule before relying on this for a Schedule III–V prescription.
Written agreement
Required
Only pre-1,040-hour NPs need the written collaborative agreement (SDCL 36-9A-4(5)); once that threshold is met, agreementRequired is effectively False — see conditions above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — South Dakota's professional-corporation statute for nursing services should be checked; not settled
About South Dakota's rules
SD is unusually permissive: NP/CNM need only 1,040 practice hours (or a collaborative agreement with ANY physician OR already-independent NP/CNM) to become fully independent (SDCL 36-9A), and a 2025 reform (SL 2025, ch 149) gives PAs the same kind of pathway after 6,000 hours plus NCCPA certification. Older sources citing a fixed PA-per-physician ratio are now outdated — that cap was repealed.
Other clinicians in South Dakota: see the state overview.