What is a legal nurse consultant?
Legal nurse consulting is the analysis and evaluation of facts and testimony by a registered nurse. Legal nurse consultants provide a rendering of informed opinions related to the delivery of nursing, healthcare services and outcomes, and the nature and cause of injuries. The legal nurse consultant is a licensed registered nurse who performs a critical analysis of clinically related issues in a variety of settings in the legal arena. A nurse expert has a strong educational and experiential foundation and is qualified to assess adherence to standards and guidelines of practice as applied to nursing practice.
Since the early 1980s, legal nurse consultants have acted as collaborators and strategists, offering support in medically related litigation and other medical-legal matters in a variety of practice areas including the following:
• Medical malpractice
• Personal injury
• Long term care litigation/elder law
• Product liability
• Toxic tort
• Workers’ compensation
• Risk management
• Life care planning
• Regulatory compliance
• Forensic/criminal
• Civil rights
• Employment discrimination
• Medicare set-aside
What is the AALNC?
The AALNC (American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants) is the premier standard in legal nurse consulting. Becoming an AALNC member allows you to broaden your professional network, build connections in a community of legal nurse consultants and legal nurse experts and grow your knowledge and skill set as a legal nurse consultant.
For more information, visit www.aalnc.org
Attorneys: What can a legal nurse consultant do for your cases?
Chart review that focuses on the information YOU need: damages, duty, standard of care
Expert witness location
Summary and timeline of care
Case screening
Deposition preparation
Medical research and literature review to support your theory of causation
Creation of graphs, charts and other visual media to make technical data easy to understand
Creation of lists of injuries and diagnoses
Investigation of patient records for additional providers not previously listed
Attend medical appointments with your clients
And much more!
Certification vs. Certificate
You do not need to be certified to start working as a legal nurse consultant. Education from any reputable source is helpful, though, as are you starting out. It can be hard to differentiate between certificate programs (finishing a program) and certification (valid credentials).
A certificate demonstrates completion of an educational course with a specific focus that does not include a degree plan. A certification typically requires professional experience and demonstration of mastery or competency as measured against a defensible set of standards, usually by application or exam and has ongoing requirements to maintain.
LNCC® is the only legal nurse consulting certification recognized and accredited by ABSNC (Accreditation Board for Specialty Nursing Certification). Please visit Certification vs. Certificate - AALNC | American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants for more information.