Georgia’s Board of Nursing has published two one-page position statements that bear on RN sedation practice, both dated July 2025 and both about specific agents rather than moderate sedation as a whole: one on propofol, etomidate and neuromuscular blocking agents, and one on ketamine. The words moderate sedation do not appear in either statement. Everything below is quoted or paraphrased from those two statements — (p. 1) citations refer to the propofol statement — so you can check it against the source; where the statements are silent, this page says so.
Georgia at a glance
| Board | Georgia Board of Nursing; both statements are published on sos.ga.gov. |
| Document | Two one-page position statements, each dated July 2025: Position Statement: Administration of Propofol, Etomidate, and Neuromuscular Blocking Agents (PDF), the primary document here, and Position Statement: Administration of Ketamine (PDF), cited here as the Ketamine statement. |
| Rule it applies | Not stated. Neither statement cites a Georgia statute or Board rule by number. The propofol statement’s cited authorities are the “American Association of Nurse Anesthetists – American Society of Anesthesiologists Joint Statement Regarding Propofol Administration, 2004” and “specific language in the Propofol package insert” (p. 1). |
| Status | Not stated. Each document is titled a Position Statement, and neither says whether it carries the force of law. Verbs differ by paragraph: propofol “should be administered only by persons trained in the administration of general anesthesia, who are not simultaneously involved in the surgical or diagnostic procedure” (p. 1); RNs “must demonstrate knowledge and skills” before drug administration (p. 1). |
| Dates | Each statement carries one date, “July 2025” (p. 1), and nothing else: no adoption, revision, review or effective date is stated, and neither says how often the Board reviews it. |
| Who it covers | Registered nurses. The procedural-sedation paragraph is written for “the registered nurse (RN) who is not a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)” (p. 1); the other three paragraphs for the registered nurse generally (p. 1). The ketamine statement is written for “The RN” (Ketamine statement, p. 1). |
| Who it does not cover | Not addressed. Neither statement mentions LPNs, and neither addresses the practice of any licensee other than the RN — physicians and certified nurse practitioners appear only as providers in whose presence, and under whose direction, rapid sequence intubation is done (p. 1). |
| Settings the document names | The propofol statement names two: “the Critical Care setting” (p. 1) for the intubated, mechanically ventilated patient and “a hospital setting” (p. 1) for rapid sequence intubation. Its procedural-sedation paragraph names procedures rather than settings, in an open list introduced with “including but not limited to” (p. 1). The ketamine statement names no setting, only conditions (Ketamine statement, p. 1). Neither statement mentions ambulatory surgery centers, offices or any other setting type. |
| Re-verification interval | Not stated. The propofol statement asks for evidence of “ongoing competency” (p. 1) and gives no interval or renewal cycle; the ketamine statement has no competency language. |
| Where the record lives | Not stated. The propofol statement puts the demonstration on the nurse, “Prior to drug administration” (p. 1), and names no record-keeper, file or location. Both statements send the nurse to facility policy (p. 1; Ketamine statement, p. 1). |
| CE hours | Not stated. No contact-hour count, named course or renewal-CE requirement appears in either statement. The competencies the propofol statement names are examples — they “may include but are not limited to, ACLS/PALS certification and conscious sedation monitoring” (p. 1). |
What the Georgia Board of Nursing says
The propofol statement opens from the premise that “Because sedation is a continuum, it is not always possible to predict how an individual patient will respond” (p. 1). Its last paragraph, on RN competencies, is the one this page is about, and the only place in either statement that speaks of documenting competence:
“Prior to drug administration, registered nurses (RN) must demonstrate knowledge and skills which include evidence of education, training, and ongoing competency. Competencies may include but are not limited to, ACLS/PALS certification and conscious sedation monitoring.”
Georgia Board of Nursing — Position Statement: Administration of Propofol, Etomidate, and Neuromuscular Blocking Agents (July 2025, p. 1)
Read the primary source → · Read the ketamine statement →
Three lines the two statements draw
Propofol and other anesthetic agents for procedural sedation
For procedural sedation the statement turns on whether the nurse is a CRNA: “It is not within the scope of practice of the registered nurse (RN) who is not a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) to administer agents used primarily as anesthetics for sedation, including Propofol” (p. 1), citing the AANA–ASA joint statement of 2004. That “would include the non-intubated patient undergoing procedures, including but not limited to, invasive cardiology, invasive radiology, endoscopic gastro-intestinal procedures, invasive bronchoscopy, and emergent procedures” (p. 1). Propofol is the only agent that paragraph names, and the statement does not define procedural sedation.
The two situations where an RN may give propofol
First, the intubated patient in critical care: “It is within the scope of practice for the registered nurse (RN) to administer intravenous Propofol to the intubated, mechanically ventilated patient in continuous and bolus dosing, for ongoing sedation/analgesia within the Critical Care setting” (p. 1). Second, emergency airway management: the RN “may administer Propofol, Etomidate, and neuromuscular blocking agents (only Succinylcholine, Rocuronium, and Vecuronium) to the non-intubated patient in a hospital setting for the purpose of rapid sequence intubation” (p. 1), “when the clinical presentation of impending respiratory failure is imminent” (p. 1). Paraphrased, that is done in the presence of, and under the direction of, a physician, a certified nurse practitioner and/or a certified registered nurse anesthetist “credentialed in emergency airway management” (p. 1).
Ketamine
Ketamine has its own one-page statement, and it does not mention sedation: the RN “may administer low-dose or sub-anesthetic Ketamine, or its derivatives, for the following medical conditions: pain/analgesia, palliative care, or the treatment of mental health disorders” (Ketamine statement, p. 1), “under the supervision of and with an order from a licensed provider” (Ketamine statement, p. 1). Neither statement mentions ketamine for procedural sedation by name, and whether the propofol statement’s “agents used primarily as anesthetics for sedation” (p. 1) reaches ketamine is not something either statement says.
What a Georgia facility should be able to show
The RN Competencies paragraph is written for RNs administering the agents the propofol statement covers — it says nothing about moderate sedation with other agents — and within that scope it translates into three records:
- Facility policies and procedures for these agents. Both statements send the nurse to them (p. 1; Ketamine statement, p. 1), and neither says what they must contain.
- Per-nurse evidence of education and training, in hand “Prior to drug administration” (p. 1), for every RN who gives those agents in the situations the statement permits.
- Per-nurse evidence of “ongoing competency” (p. 1), on an interval your own policy names — the statement sets none.
The CSRN™ course — 10 CE contact hours developed and delivered by Capt. M. Ron Eslinger, CRNA, with module exams, case studies and a certificate ID your credentialing office can verify — is built to be records 2 and 3 on that list. Facility seats and roster tracking →
Questions Georgia facilities ask
Does Georgia set a renewal interval for sedation competency?
Not in either statement. The propofol statement asks for “evidence of education, training, and ongoing competency” (p. 1) and says nothing about how often competency is re-demonstrated; the ketamine statement has no competency language and points the nurse to facility policy (Ketamine statement, p. 1).
Does Georgia require the CSRN™ course specifically?
No. Neither statement requires a course, and no state mandates this specific one. The nearest the propofol statement comes is its two examples, ACLS/PALS certification and conscious sedation monitoring, introduced with “may include but are not limited to” (p. 1) — examples, not a required list. CSRN™ is designed to serve as the “evidence of education, training, and ongoing competency” (p. 1) the statement asks for.
Can a Georgia RN give propofol for moderate sedation?
Not for procedural sedation, in the Board’s position: administering “agents used primarily as anesthetics for sedation, including Propofol” is “not within the scope of practice” of the RN who is not a CRNA (p. 1). The two situations the statement does place within RN scope are set out above.
Compliance note (last reviewed September 2026): This page is educational information about the Georgia Board of Nursing’s two July 2025 position statements — on propofol, etomidate and neuromuscular blocking agents, and on ketamine — not legal advice or a compliance determination. Every quotation was checked word-for-word against those two statements, obtained from sos.ga.gov in a browser on 2026-09-01; (p. 1) citations refer to the one-page propofol statement. The statements do not say how often the Board reviews them; confirm the current editions and your own facility policy before relying on this summary. No state mandates this specific course.