The Wyoming State Board of Nursing addresses the RN’s role in moderate sedation through an advisory opinion, MODERATE SEDATION & PAIN MANAGEMENT, issued “In accordance with W.S. § 33-21-122 (c) (iii) of the Wyoming Nursing Practice Act (NPA)” (p. 1). It is not a rule — “an advisory opinion is not law” (p. 1) — but it is the Board’s stated position. Every statement about it below is quoted or paraphrased from that four-page PDF, with page numbers.
Wyoming at a glance
| Board | Wyoming State Board of Nursing (WSBN), Cheyenne (p. 1) |
| Document | Advisory Opinion, MODERATE SEDATION & PAIN MANAGEMENT — four pages (opinion to p. 3, references to p. 4), served from the Board’s practice page as a Google Drive file. |
| Rule it applies | None. Issued under “W.S. § 33-21-122 (c) (iii)” (p. 1); it cites no Board rule chapter and is not itself a rule. |
| Status | Advisory, in the Board’s own words: “While an advisory opinion is not law, it is the WSBN’s official opinion on whether specific nursing procedures, policies, and other practices comply with the standards of nursing practice in Wyoming” (p. 1). |
| Dates | Practice Committee; approved 07/25, reviewed and revised 03/26 (p. 1). No expiry or next-review date is printed. |
| Who it covers | APRN and RN boxes marked (p. 1). The moderate-sedation criteria are written for the RN (p. 2); the ketamine and nitrous-oxide paragraphs also name the APRN (p. 3). |
| Who it does not cover | LPN and CNA — those boxes are left unmarked (p. 1) and the opinion states no LPN or CNA role in sedation. General anesthesia too: administering anesthetics for it “is outside of the scope of practice for RNs or advanced practice nurses who are not CRNAs” (p. 2). |
| Settings the document names | The opinion’s body names no facility type — only institutional policies and procedures, the “agency/facility” (p. 2), and emergency support appropriate for the setting and individual patient (p. 2). The one clinical circumstance named is labor (p. 3). |
| Re-verification interval | Not stated. It asks for completed training, demonstrated continuing competency and “current certification appropriate to the patient population” (p. 2), but names no interval, no expiry and no re-testing date. |
| Where the record lives | With the employer — the agency/facility maintains the competency and training documentation for each nurse (p. 2); the same duty appears for delegated critical tasks (p. 1) and in pain management (p. 2). |
| CE hours | Not stated. No contact-hour count and no continuing-education requirement appears anywhere in the opinion. |
What the Wyoming State Board of Nursing says
It is within the scope of practice of an appropriately trained and competent RN “to administer moderate sedation during diagnostic or therapeutic procedures as ordered by, and in the presence of, the physician, APRN, or PA” (p. 2) — if seven criteria are met:
- “There are institutional policies and procedures to guide this practice” (p. 2).
- “The nurse has completed training and demonstrated continuing competency as well as current certification appropriate to the patient population (e.g., ACLS or PALS)” (p. 2).
- “The agency/facility maintains documentation on competency and training for each nurse” (p. 2).
- “The care is provided under the direction of a physician, APRN, or PA who is on-site” (p. 2).
- “The patient’s condition is assessed prior to, during, and after the procedure to the current standard of practice” (p. 2).
- “The nurse managing and monitoring the care of the patient receiving moderate sedation shall have no other responsibilities that would leave the patient unattended or compromise continuous monitoring during the procedure” (p. 2).
- “Assure emergency support strategies appropriate for the setting and individual patient are available” (p. 2).
Note what criterion 6 does and does not say — it is not a flat bar on other work. The test is whether the other responsibility “would leave the patient unattended or compromise continuous monitoring during the procedure” (p. 2), and it is the one criterion phrased with “shall” inside a document the Board itself says is not law.
Two further sentences matter. The RN has “the right and responsibility to refuse to administer any medication that may induce procedural sedation” (p. 1) where, in the nurse’s professional judgment, it “may produce a state of deep sedation or place the patient at risk of complications” (p. 1). And the nurse’s own licence sits above the order: “The RN’s ultimate responsibility is to ensure patient safety, and this independent obligation under their licensure supersedes any provider order or facility policy” (p. 2).
Two agents are named, as acknowledgements rather than permissions granted: ketamine, for “appropriately trained and competent RNs and APRNs” (p. 3), and nitrous oxide for anxiolysis/analgesia (p. 3). Apart from those two, the opinion’s body names no individual drug.
The boxed note at the foot of p. 1:
“If the individual does not have the education, knowledge, and skills to safely provide care, that activity is not permitted, regardless of the determination of the advisory opinion.”
Wyoming State Board of Nursing — Advisory Opinion (p. 1)
Read the primary source → The Board serves the PDF from its practice page as a Google Drive file; this is the file linked there on 2026-09-02.
What a Wyoming facility should be able to show
Three of the seven criteria are met with records, not at the bedside. The opinion’s body names no surveyor and no credentialing office; it asks the agency or facility to hold the documentation (p. 2):
- Institutional policies and procedures for moderate sedation — criterion 1 asks only that they exist “to guide this practice” (p. 2) and does not say what they must contain.
- Per-nurse evidence that the nurse has completed training in moderate sedation, which the opinion puts with the agency or facility (p. 2).
- Per-nurse evidence of demonstrated continuing competency, also held by the agency or facility, on an interval your own policy names — the opinion sets none.
Criterion 2 asks for a different record entirely: “current certification appropriate to the patient population” (p. 2), whose worked example is ACLS or PALS — a resuscitation credential, not sedation training. The opinion does not say what else may satisfy it, and CSRN™ is not offered as a substitute.
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 Wyoming facilities ask
Does the advisory opinion set an interval for re-verifying sedation competency?
No — it is silent on the interval. It asks for “completed training and demonstrated continuing competency” (p. 2) and that the agency or facility hold the documentation (p. 2), but names no annual cycle, no expiry and no re-testing date, and attaches nothing to licence renewal. The interval is the facility’s to set; the opinion expressly contemplates that facility policy will go further: policies “may further restrict practice in their setting and/or require additional expectations regarding competency, validation, training, and supervision” (p. 1).
Does the advisory opinion require the CSRN™ course?
No. It requires no particular sedation course — the courses it names are ACLS and PALS, given as the example of “current certification appropriate to the patient population” (p. 2), not as sedation training. What it asks for is that the nurse “has completed training and demonstrated continuing competency” (p. 2), documented by the agency or facility. No state mandates this specific course. CSRN™ is designed to serve as that evidence: a named credential, assessed competency and an employer-verifiable certificate ID.
Can a Wyoming RN administer an anesthetic agent?
The opinion answers in two directions. For sedation, yes, conditionally — it is “within the scope of practice of the RN to safely provide sedation, including the use of an anesthetic agent, provided the conditions set in this advisory opinion are met” (p. 2): the seven criteria above. A separate p. 1 route covers the RN who assists a physician, APRN or PA “delegating direct critical tasks to the RN” (p. 1) by administering anesthetic and/or neuromuscular agents, under five conditions of its own (p. 1). For anesthesia, no: “This advisory opinion CANNOT be construed as approval for the RN to administer an anesthetic agent for the purposes of anesthesia” (p. 3). The line drawn is purpose, not the agent.
Compliance note (last reviewed September 2026): This page is educational information about the Wyoming State Board of Nursing advisory opinion on moderate sedation, not legal advice or a compliance determination. Every quotation was checked word-for-word on 2026-09-02 against the four-page PDF the Board’s practice page linked that day. The Board hosts its advisory opinions on Google Drive rather than at fixed URLs; confirm the file the practice page currently links, and your own facility policy, before relying on this summary. No state mandates this specific course.