Written Protocol · RN
Tennessee Written Medical Protocols for Registered Nurses
Recognized but not required in every case. The Written Medical Protocols is the written instrument Tennessee law names for a Registered Nurse working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it contains when one is used, and the supervision rules that apply either way.
General RN licensure (TCA Title 63, Chapter 7) is not subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement — RNs work within physician/APRN orders, standing orders, and facility protocols, categorically distinct from TN's APRN Certificate of Fitness/Collaborative Management Agreement regime above.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse agreement covers in Tennessee
Tennessee requires no written agreement for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Tennessee Board of Nursing governs registered nurses here.
A Registered Nurse who manages the medical aspects of a patient's care outside the situations covered by T.C.A. 63-7-103(c)(1)-(3) works under written medical protocols developed jointly by the Registered Nurse and the sponsoring Physician.
Source: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1000-03-.02(2) (Registered Nurses, Scope of Practice)
- The Written Medical Protocols also carries 2 scope clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1000-03-.02(2) (Registered Nurses, Scope of Practice)regulation
Board of Nursing rule (October 2024 revision): RNs who manage the medical aspects of a patient's care in situations not covered by T.C.A. 63-7-103(c)(1)-(3) must have written medical protocols, jointly developed by the nurse and the sponsoring physician(s); protocol detail varies with the complexity of the situations and the RN's preparation; the paragraph does not authorize an RN without an APRN certificate to practice advanced nursing.
What Tennessee does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to registered nurses regardless of any agreement.
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 TN; they administer medications per physician/APRN orders.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement in TN, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional Corporation or PLLC for nursing services under TN's single-profession-per-PC rule; non-clinical businesses an RN might own fall outside this regime entirely.
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
- Tenn. Code Ann. Title 63, Chapter 7 — Nurses
About Tennessee's rules
TN is a restricted-practice state for NPs — no independence pathway exists. Physicians must personally review ≥20% of an APRN's charts every 30 days (100% of controlled-substance charts) and visit remote practice sites in person every 30 days. TN has an explicit, unambiguous corporate-practice-of-medicine ban (statute, case law, and AG opinions; TCA § 63-6-204) — a professional corporation may practice only a single profession.
Other clinicians in Tennessee: see the state overview.