Texas guides RN moderate sedation through a Board of Nursing position statement rather than a task-specific rule — in the Board’s own words, “the NPA and Board rules are not prescriptive to specific tasks a nurse may or may not perform” (p. 19). Position Statement 15.8, Role of the Nurse in Moderate Sedation, says what an employing institution’s sedation policy should contain, excludes LVNs outright, and states the Board’s position that propofol, ketamine and the other anesthetic agents are outside RN scope except in the situations it lists. Everything below is quoted or paraphrased from the Board’s 2026 consolidated position-statements PDF, with page numbers, so you can check it against the source.
Texas at a glance
| Board | Texas Board of Nursing |
| Document | Position Statement 15.8, “Role of the Nurse in Moderate Sedation” — Texas Board of Nursing Position Statements, 2026 edition (PDF), pp. 18–23; page numbers on this page refer to that edition. |
| Rule it applies | Board Rule 217.11, Standards of Nursing Practice — the statement cites 217.11(1)(B), (1)(C), (1)(H) and (1)(T) |
| Status | Advisory. “Board Position Statements do not have the force of law but are a means of providing direction for nurses” (p. 1). The rule it applies is binding: “All licensed nurses practicing in Texas are required to ‘know and comply’ with the Nursing Practice Act (NPA) and Board Rules” (p. 18). |
| Dates | Board action 01/1992 · last revised 01/2024 · last reviewed 01/2026 (p. 23). Position statements “are reviewed annually” (p. 1). |
| Who it covers | “the RN or non-CRNA advanced practice registered nurse administering and/or monitoring patients receiving moderate sedation” (p. 19) |
| Who it does not cover | CRNAs within their authorized scope; the RN in “an acute care setting, such as critical care, where the patient in question is intubated, receiving mechanical ventilatory support, and continuously monitored by the patient care RN”; and “adjunct or off label use of low dose agents for pain management or other indications” (p. 18). LVNs are excluded outright — see below. |
| Settings the document names | It does not list practice settings. It addresses “employing institutions” (p. 19) and speaks of “a variety of patient care settings” (p. 20). The setting types it mentions by name are “an acute care setting, such as critical care” (p. 18, in the exclusion above), “critical care settings” (p. 21, in the anesthetic-agent exceptions) and — describing the AANA reference document it recommends — “a hospital, ambulatory surgical center, or office setting” (p. 22). |
| Re-verification interval | None stated. The statement asks for “ongoing competence” (p. 19) and points RNs and non-CRNA APRNs to the professional organizations — AANA, ANA, AORN and AWHONN — that “have well-defined standards and recommendations for ongoing nursing education and competency assessment” (p. 19), with the Board’s caution about applying the standards of any individual or specialty group “who are not also experts in the field of advanced airway management/anesthesia” (p. 19). |
| Where the record lives | In the employing institution’s sedation policies and procedures, which “should include but not be limited to” “documentation/evidence of initial education and training and ongoing competence” (p. 19). For a new sedation device the nurse “is encouraged to retain proof of training” (p. 21). |
| CE hours | No contact-hour count or renewal-CE requirement is stated. On continuing education the statement makes two points: for an LVN, continuing education “that falls short of achieving licensure as a registered nurse would be insufficient” (p. 18); and “no continuing education program, including ACLS programs, will ensure” that an RN or non-CRNA APRN can rescue a patient from deep sedation or general anesthesia (p. 21). |
What the Texas Board of Nursing says
The operative language is the list of things an employing institution’s sedation policy “should include but not be limited to” (p. 19): “performance of a pre-sedation health assessment”; “guidelines for patient monitoring, drug administration, and a plan for managing potential complications or emergency situations”; “accessibility of emergency equipment and supplies”; “documentation and monitoring of the level of sedation and physiologic measurements”; and the item this page is about:
“Documentation/evidence of initial education and training and ongoing competence of the RN or non-CRNA advanced practice registered nurse administering and/or monitoring patients receiving moderate sedation”
Texas Board of Nursing — Position Statement 15.8, Role of the Nurse in Moderate Sedation (Board Position Statements 2026 PDF, p. 19)
Two lines the statement draws
LVNs
Texas is explicit: “Though the Board cannot dictate physician practice, it is the Board’s position that a LVN cannot administer medications or monitor patients receiving moderate sedation as a delegated medical act” (p. 18), and continuing education “that falls short of achieving licensure as a registered nurse would be insufficient to assure vocational nurse competency and patient safety” (p. 18). A Texas sedation roster is an RN and APRN roster.
Propofol, ketamine and other anesthetic agents
“It is up to facilities and physicians to determine specific pharmacologic agents to be used to induce moderate sedation” (p. 19), but the Board draws a line at anesthetic agents: “It is the position of the Board that the administration of anesthetic agents (e.g. propofol, methohexital, ketamine, and etomidate) is outside the scope of practice for RNs and non-CRNA advanced practice registered nurses except in the following situations” (p. 21). Paraphrased, the five situations are: assisting in the physical presence of a CRNA or anesthesiologist; a clinical experience within a program preparing the nurse for licensure as a nurse anesthetist; patients who are intubated and mechanically ventilated in critical care settings; assisting an individual with current competence in advanced airway management, including emergency intubation; and an FDA-approved computer-assisted personalized sedation system used under its approval requirements, “where appropriate safety requirements are met (such as immediate availability of anesthesia providers) after completing appropriate training” (pp. 21–22). The statement adds that where an appropriately licensed practitioner is performing a procedure “that can be safely abandoned to rescue or intubate the patient, the RN may administer the anesthetic agent when directed” (p. 22), and that the nurse’s duty to the patient “supersedes any physician order or facility policy” and obliges the nurse “to decline orders for medications or doses of medications that have the potential to cause the patient to reach a deeper level of sedation or anesthesia” (p. 22).
What a Texas facility should be able to show
The policy list above translates into three records a Texas facility should be able to produce:
- Sedation policies and procedures covering the five items the statement lists — pre-sedation assessment, monitoring and emergency guidelines, equipment, sedation-level documentation, and staff education and competence.
- Per-nurse evidence of initial education and training for every RN and non-CRNA APRN who administers or monitors moderate sedation.
- Per-nurse evidence of ongoing competence, 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 Texas facilities ask
Does Texas set a renewal interval for sedation competency?
No. Position Statement 15.8 asks for documentation of “ongoing competence” and is silent on the interval; it points instead to the professional organizations’ “standards and recommendations for ongoing nursing education and competency assessment” (p. 19) and to the Board’s Scope of Practice Decision-Making Model. The interval you write into your policy is your own, informed by those standards; a certificate with an expiry date makes it visible on the roster.
Does Texas require the CSRN™ course specifically?
No. Position Statement 15.8 requires no particular course, and no state mandates this specific one. The statement asks for “documentation/evidence of initial education and training and ongoing competence” (p. 19) without defining what that evidence is. CSRN™ is designed to serve as that evidence — a named credential, assessed competency and an employer-verifiable certificate ID.
Can a Texas RN give propofol for moderate sedation?
Only in the situations the statement lists (pp. 21–22) — for example, assisting in the physical presence of a CRNA or anesthesiologist, or with an intubated, mechanically ventilated patient in critical care — and, on p. 22, when directed by an appropriately licensed practitioner performing a procedure “that can be safely abandoned to rescue or intubate the patient”. Outside those, the Board’s position is that anesthetic agents are outside RN scope.
Compliance note (last reviewed September 2026): This page is educational information about Texas Board of Nursing Position Statement 15.8, not legal advice or a compliance determination. Every quotation was checked word-for-word against the Board’s 2026 consolidated position-statements PDF on 2026-09-01; page numbers refer to that edition. The Board reviews its position statements annually; confirm the current edition and your own facility policy before relying on this summary. No state mandates this specific course.