Protocol · RN · West Virginia
Practice Protocol for Registered Nurses in West Virginia
Registered Nurses practice independently in West Virginia. 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 West Virginia; general RN practice is defined without a physician-oversight condition, unlike the APRN prescribing requirement above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse protocol covers in West Virginia
West Virginia requires no written protocol for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses 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 Advanced Practice Registered Nurses seeking prescriptive authority, West Virginia law does not require such an 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia; 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)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — General RN licensure does not require an Authorized Medical Corporation under § 30-3-15 — non-clinical businesses an RN might own (staffing agency, home health agency) fall under general corporation/LLC law and carry no ownership restriction.
For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses performing delegated medical procedures, RN ownership of the business entity does not remove the need for physician delegation and oversight of the procedures themselves.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About West Virginia's rules
Sourcing for West Virginia leans on Board of Nursing, Board of Medicine and Board of Pharmacy materials and secondary summaries rather than direct statute text, so confidence is lower than for most states. SB 956 (2026), which would let PAs own practices and end mandatory collaboration, had not been confirmed as finally passed and signed when this was written; the PA entries below reflect current, not pending, law.
Other clinicians in West Virginia: see the state overview.