Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in South Dakota
South 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.
General RN licensure (SDCL 36-9-3) is not subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement — RN practice explicitly includes 'independent nursing strategies' alongside regimens ordered by authorized providers, in contrast to practical (LPN) nursing, which SD's statute defines as performed under a 'supervising health care provider.'
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in South Dakota
Governed by the South 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. South Dakota law does not require a collaborative 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.
- The agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 1 education, 2 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
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 SD; they implement regimens 'requested, ordered, or prescribed by authorized health care providers.'
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement in SD, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — SD professional-corporation statute for nursing services was not directly confirmed in this research pass — flagged as an open item.
Legal sources for these rules (1)
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.