Become a legal nurse consultant
W hat does a legal nurse consultant do? Legal nurse consultants (LNCs) are specialized nurses who provide medical expertise to people or groups who handle legal issues, like lawyers, court officers, lawmakers, insurance companies, or government agencies. For example, in a lawsuit or court case where the defendant claims he was injured, a legal nurse consultant might be brought in to assess the defendant’s medical records or testify about a particular kind of injury in general. Or if an insurance company is investigating the validity of a person’s claim, the legal nurse consultant might be called in to share expertise. Basically, a legal nurse consultant can be the bridge between the legal and healthcare worlds.
A legal nurse consultant’s responsibilities may include:
• Reading and interpreting medical records/histories
• Working with attorneys to draft legal documents with medically sound information
• Providing background medical research
• Interviewing clients
• Offering advice and medical insight to legal professionals about particular health issues or nursing practices in general
• Consulting on healthcare legislation
• Writing reports
• Testifying in court as a witness
Legal nurse consultants are often hired directly by law firms, government agencies, insurance companies, nonprofits, healthcare facilities, or forensic laboratories. There are also legal nurse consulting firms that employ LNCs and have them work with clients on a consultant basis. LNCs may also go into business for themselves, setting up direct client relationships. They may work parttime (balancing legal duties with other nursing jobs) or full-time, depending on the employer. About half of LNCs are directly employed by private institutions, while the other half are independent contractors.
What skills do LNCs need?
Legal nurse consultants need to have two very strong skill sets — medical/ clinical and legal. After all, their work depends on having expertise in both areas. While nurses do need strong hands-on patient care skills in general, the skills needed for this specialty tend to be more administrative in nature.
Critical-thinking skills. Legal nurse consultants are responsible for analyzing medical data or situations, and applying it to a very particular legal context. So the LNC should be good at making connections, seeing patterns, and recalling details in order to solve a problem or create a narrative.
Organizational skills. In both healthcare and the legal world, there’s little room for sloppiness — mistakes can endanger someone’s health or livelihood and affect the outcome of binding legal judgments. So an LNC needs to be able to organize information accurately and efficiently, particularly when it comes to written documents or medical records.
Clinical skills. Much of the job is providing current, accurate medical expertise, so it’s important for the LNC to have a strong medical background. If the nurse already has a specialty (like elder care or pediatrics), it’s also essential to stay on top of developments and trends in those fields, even if he or she isn’t actively practicing as a nurse anymore.
Knowledge of legal terminology. A legal nurse consultant isn’t an attorney, but he or she needs to have as good a grasp on legal terminology, as well as medical terminology, in order to work most efficiently with legal professionals and provide high-quality consulting.
Communication skills. Being a legal nurse consultant is often a public-facing role (like when testifying in court), so being able to communicate effectively is essential. A legal nurse consultant’s reputation is based on the reliability of their information; so he or she should be able to present information clearly and authoritatively, with clean speaking and writing.
What do you need to become an LNC? The main starting point to become a legal nurse consultant is a nursing degree and certification. You need that clinical base before you can specialize. At a minimum, legal nurse consultants have a bachelor’s degree in nursing, plus certification as an RN (passing the NCLEX and getting licensed by the state).