If you're a nurse, you may realize that there are so many exciting niches that you can find the perfect fit for your interests. One of the niches within nursing that few people consider is that of the legal nurse consultant. A legal nurse consultant assists lawyers, insurance companies, judges and other entities to understand the medical issues and standards that affect legal matters they are considering. It's an unusual and rewarding way to use your training and medical expertise to help others - and a profession that pays quite well. An experienced legal nurse consultant can earn between $125 to $150 an hour, working from the comfort of home.
What a Legal Nurse Consultant Does
A legal nurse consults with attorneys and others in the legal profession to help them resolve cases that have medical factors. As a nurse consultant, you'll help others understand medical records, provide them with background on medical standards and practices, assist in researching and arranging medical records for easy consultation, identify places where negligence or lack of adherence to medical standards may have caused injury and many other services that only a medical professional understands. Your expertise can be invaluable in helping decide cases that involve medical neglect or malpractice, product liability, toxic torts, workplace injury and any other case where health, illness or injury is a factor.
The services provided by legal nurse consultants include analyzing and assessing medical records to find anomalies, determine the sequence of medical events and identify possible causes and results arising from medical care of lack of it. A legal nurse may prepare written reports about standards and medical practices that attorneys can study to help them prepare for a case, or assist in developing life care plans for plaintiffs who have been injured and are seeking redress. In short, if there is a medical aspect to a case, a legal nurse consultant can be an invaluable aid in developing and preparing the case for disposition.
Training Required for Legal Nurse Certification
You don't need a BSN to become a legal nurse consultant. There are several organizations that offer certification for practicing nurses who want to specialize in the field. The American Institute of Health Care Professionals, for example, offers certification through the American College of Legal Nurse Consulting. Certification requires successful completion of an accepted course of study that provides at least 90 hours of study or lecture, or 6 college credit hours of approved courses that focus on legal nurse consulting. Applicants for certification must also hold a RN license in their state.
The course of study can take up to two years, but much of the course work can be completed online from home. It should include training in the theory and practice of professional nurse consulting as well as teaching about the legal system, standards of practice, effective reporting skills, analysis skills and the various roles of the legal nurse consultant in the legal system and other systems where their services are used.
If you're looking for a different and challenging way to use your skills and expertise as a registered nurse, a certification in legal nurse consulting may be exactly what you need to open a whole new career path to you.
To learn more about subjects like Legal Nurse please visit the web site at: http://www.aihcp.org/lnc.htm
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About the Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 (Tue Nov 29 2011) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com
