Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in Georgia
Georgia law does not require a Registered Nurse to hold a named agreement with a physician. Practices still use one to define the working relationship; here is what it covers and what the state does require.
FULL for general nursing scope (O.C.G.A. § 43-26-3) — no ongoing physician oversight required for RN practice itself. SUPERVISED_ONLY carve-out for medical-aesthetic procedures (Botox/fillers): a Board of Nursing position statement (Apr. 2024) requires an individualized physician/NP/PA order plus a personal H&P — standing orders are explicitly NOT sufficient.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in Georgia
Governed by the Georgia Board of Nursing. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the individualized orders of the Physician, consistent with the Georgia Registered Professional Nurse Practice Act, O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 26, Article 1. Unlike the Nurse Protocol Agreement required of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, Georgia law does not require a Board-filed protocol 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 those orders.
- The agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 2 education, 2 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 480-35-.04board rule
Requirements for a pharmacist drug therapy modification (DTM) protocol, including required protocol contents, physician diagnosis/initiation, monitoring, and termination.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the agreement has to carry, from the state's supervision rules.
Proximity
cosmetic laser services (O.C.G.A. Title 43, Ch. 34, Art. 9 — a codified statutory scheme, explicitly excluded from the 'practice of medicine' definition): Within 50 miles
§ 43-34-242 defines an eligible 'consulting physician' as having a principal practice location within Georgia or within 50 miles of the laser facility. Two license tiers exist under § 43-34-244: 'Assistant Laser Practitioner' (PA/LPN/RN/esthetician/master cosmetologist with 3+ board-approved courses, requires ON-SITE supervision of a senior practitioner) and 'Senior Laser Practitioner' (PA or RN/NP with 3+ years clinical experience, operates under consulting-physician protocols with no on-site requirement). § 43-34-248 requires the consulting physician be 'present at the facility or immediately available for consultation and supervision either personally or via telecommunications' before non-hair-removal treatments.
cosmetic injectables (Botox/dermal fillers): No proximity requirement
No proximity/on-site standard was found beyond the individualized-order-plus-H&P requirement itself — the ordering physician's physical location at the time of injection is not addressed in the position statement language located.
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 · no controlled-substance authority
General RNs (non-APRN) have no independent prescriptive authority — § 43-26-3 frames medication/treatment administration as 'authorized by protocol' or 'as prescribed by' a physician, dentist, or podiatrist.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional for general nursing practice. For cosmetic injectables, an individualized order + history/physical from a physician, NP, or PA with prescriptive authority is required (Georgia Board of Nursing Position Statement: Cosmetic/Aesthetic Procedures, Apr. 1, 2024) — this is interpretive guidance, not a new codified rule, and the primary PDF could not be fetched directly (corroborated identically across two independent secondary sources). For cosmetic laser services, a written 'consulting physician' agreement filed with GCMB is required by statute (O.C.G.A. § 43-34-248) — see the proximity rule below.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — No standalone CPOM statute by that name — the functional equivalent runs through O.C.G.A. Title 14, Ch. 7 (Professional Corporations): only Georgia-licensed, actively-practicing members of a profession may be PC shareholders for an entity organized to deliver that profession's services. An RN may generally own the business/management side of a med-spa, but (unlike an APRN) has no independent prescriptive authority to be the 'medical' party — the entity delivering medical-scope services (injectables, higher-tier laser) typically needs physician PC ownership.
Legal sources for these rules (5)
- O.C.G.A. § 43-26-3 — Definitions, RN Practice Actsecondary
- O.C.G.A. §§ 43-34-242, 43-34-244, 43-34-248 — Cosmetic Laser Services article, all read verbatimsecondary
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 360-35-.07, R. 360-35-.05 — Cosmetic laser facility/practice requirements, corroborating the statutory two-tier structure (via Cornell LII mirror, read verbatim)secondary
- Georgia Board of Nursing — Position Statement: Cosmetic/Aesthetic Procedures (Apr. 1, 2024) — primary PDF fetch blocked; corroborated identically by three independent secondary sources
- O.C.G.A. Title 14, Ch. 7 — Professional Corporations Act
About Georgia's rules
Georgia remains one of the more restrictive states in this dataset — no independent-practice pathway exists for NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS, and a 50-mile APRN physician-proximity rule was NOT removed by 2023-2024 reform (a common misconception). That reform raised the ratio cap (4→a combined 8 APRNs+PAs) and added a narrow hydrocodone/oxycodone-only Schedule II exception — APRNs/PAs are otherwise barred from Schedule II. Georgia's primary-source sites were unusually inaccessible this pass; treat citations with extra caution pending follow-up.
Other clinicians in Georgia: see the state overview.