Helpful Tips on Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant

Helpful Tips on Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant

Out of the approximately 1,162,124 lawyers in practice today, 25 percent of them deal with medical malpractice and similar personal injury lawsuits. For these, lawyers need the assistance of a legal nurse consultant. A legal nurse consultant is a registered or licensed nurse who uses his or her skills and knowledge as a healthcare provider for consultation purposes on medically relevant legal cases. LNCs assist lawyers in examining medical records and understanding medical terminologies, jargons and medical procedures to determine the best step for the legal case. The lawyer and the legal nurse consultant will work hand in hand for the betterment of the case.

Legal nurse consultants can practice their profession throughout in both rural and urban areas. Cases which LNCs deal with involve simple leg fracture caused by a car accident to high profile medical cases like medical malpractice and more.

The consultants have the choice of working independently from their homes for attorneys, either on a part-time or full time basis. Others render their service to give consultations to government agencies, insurance companies, and private corporations.

So what does a nurse need to possess or to know in order to become a legal nurse consultant?
A consultant must possess qualities such as dedication to their work as well as persistence. One should be capable of accurately interpreting the medical situations and be able to read the medical record properly.

To make things clear, listed here are some of the functions performed by the legal nurse consultant:

• They review the case for its merit
• Help the attorney-client by interpreting medical jargons and records while explaining the technical nursing terminologies, plans as well as treatment for diagnosed diseases.

• LNCs perform research on related literatures which are applicable the specific situations and present it as a simplified paper
• Legal nurse consultants are responsible for reviewing, analysis and summarization of depositions
• They prepare for the deposition and preparation for the trial
• LNCs also attend case trials as well as hearings in court
• They assist witnesses for the case

For those professionals who practice as legal nurse consultant only, there are no specified specialty areas and the cases which they will handle involve all field of medicine. They will accept and review all types of cases and if one feels not confident enough to handle a case, sub-contracting can be an option and not to refuse a case because of little or no clinical experience in the area in question.

There are trainings involved in becoming a legal nurse consultant and these areas are focused on nursing standards, clinical nursing and medicine which link medical law but the “Law” is not the domain of the legal nurse consultant and so, understanding only the essentials is necessary.
Here is a brief list of clients that benefit from the services of Legal Nurse Consultants:

• Attorneys
• Insurance companies for adjudicating claims
• The Healthcare facilities
• Government agencies and private corporations (consulted in risk identification and management, forming strategies for the development of corporate quality assurance, valuation and the minimizing of a company’s loss exposure)

The conclusion is, any registered nurse who would like to become a legal nurse consultant should train on how to become one and should persevere because this profession is not that easy. It takes a lot of hard work to become successful in this field and so with other endeavors.

What is an Independent Nursing Practice

What is Independent Nursing Practice?

How would you like to hang at your gate or window a sign bearing your name and the words “Independent Nursing Practitioner?” As the term implies, “independent” means the nurse is self-employed and provides professional nursing services to clients/parents and their families. While some independent nursing practitioners set up their clinics near a hospital, most of them are community-based. These nurses reach out and offer theirs services rather than expect clients to seek their help. They perform both independent and collaborative roles. Health care assessment, formulating plans for health maintenance, prevention strategies, continuation of supportive activities in critical and complex health problems are all within the scope of nursing practice. They make referrals and collaborate with physicians and other disciplines as needed by the client or family.

Independent nurse practitioners are accountable for their decisions. Whether their role is independent or collaborative, it is based on the fact that each health care discipline offers an area of knowledge and expertise. Collaborative work is needed for effective, efficient, and economical care. It is essential therefore that independent nurse practitioners acquire working knowledge of the skills and expertise of other health workers.

The growing interest in independent nursing practice is expected to very much contribute to the improvement of the existing health care delivery system. It is time that we asses our own resources to explore this new field of practice. But the initial preparation for this kind of practice should have been incorporated first in nursing programs before nurses can assume the role effectively.

Pros and Cons Concerning Institutional Nursing

Pros and Cons Concerning Institutional Nursing

Nursing in hospitals and related health facilities such as extended care facilities, nursing homes, and neighborhood clinics, comprises all of the basic components of comprehensive patient care and family health. The concept of the modern hospital as a community health center where in-patient and out-patient care are continuous describes the goal of medical care in most general hospitals.

The educational qualification for beginning practitioners is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The nurse, as member of the health care team, participates in all phases of patient care of the acutely ill, the convalescing and the ambulatory patient. The nurse cares for the patient in the hospital or in the out- patient department and plans for the nursing care needs of the patient about to be discharged.

Advantages of Staff Nursing in Hospitals

1. There is always a supervisor whom one can consult if a problem exists.
2. Nurses are updated with new trends in medicine and in the nursing care of patients.
3. They have a forty- hour week duty which provide for two days of rest away from duty.
4. More staff development programs are available in hospitals.
5. They undergo rotation to different units.

Disadvantages of Staff Nursing in Hospitals

1. There is a great possibility of under-staffing which may require nurses to put in overtime work and sacrifice some of their plans.
2. Because of the bulk of work, some staff nurses do not find time to improve their skills through continuing education programs.
3. Administrative problems and overwork may tend to dissatisfy the staff nurse.

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