Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in North Dakota
North Dakota 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.
N.D. Cent. Code § 43-12.1-02 defines an RN as practicing 'independently and interdependently' — no collaborative/supervisory-agreement requirement with a physician exists for RN licensure itself, distinct from the separate APRN advanced-licensure layer above.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in North Dakota
Governed by the North Dakota Board of Nursing. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the orders, standing orders, or delegation of the Physician, consistent with N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1. North Dakota law does not require a 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.
Source: N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1
- The agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 2 education, 2 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- N.D.C.C. ch. 43-12.1statute
North Dakota Nurse Practice Act, governing Nurse Practitioner and Registered Nurse licensure and practice.
- N.D.C.C. ch. 43-17statute
North Dakota Physician Assistant practice act.
- N.D.C.C. § 43-15-31.4statute
Authorizes a pharmacist to initiate or modify a patient's drug therapy under a collaborative practice agreement with a practitioner.
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
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 · no controlled-substance authority
RNs do not have independent prescriptive authority in North Dakota; physician orders govern the medical components of care in standard practice.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to a collaboration agreement in North Dakota, unlike the APRN categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — General RN licensure does not require a healing-arts professional corporation. Non-clinical businesses an RN might own fall under general corporation/LLC law rather than N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-31.
Not independently verified in depth this research pass.
Legal sources for these rules (1)
- N.D. Cent. Code § 43-12.1-02 — Registered nurse definition
About North Dakota's rules
H.B. 1175 (2019, eff. 2020) and a 2022 rule amendment repealed ND's old PA supervision-contract/ratio/countersignature model — PAs are now CONDITIONAL only below 4,000 practice hours or outside a qualifying facility. All four APRN roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS) are FULL independent practice with no collaboration agreement of any kind.
Other clinicians in North Dakota: see the state overview.