Can the registered nurse perform cardiac stress testing?

It is within the scope of practice of an appropriately trained and competent registered nurse to perform a routine and non-complex cardiac stress test under the direction of an authorized provider, following clinical practice standards. A prescription or order from an authorized health care practitioner is required. The registered nurse should use the Scope of Practice Decision Tree to determine if these activities are within the nurse’s legal and individual scope of practice. There may be other regulations, such as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) who defines the requirements for supervision (general or direct), and other parameters, for reimbursement of the procedure.