New Nurse-Legal Nurse Consultant

Specialties Legal

Published

Hi everyone,

I just recently passed my boards and am now officially an RN! I am not a bedside nurse and have never wanted to do bedside nursing. I really want to do legal nurse consulting. I am currently working at a hospital in the NICU as a secretary and previously worked on a telemetry floor as a secretary for 3 years. I have almost 5 years total of hospital secretary work. Do you think I will be able to become a successful legal nurse consultant without do any bedside nursing prior?

Thanks!

Specializes in PICU, NICU, SICU, CCU, ER, RN Paralegal.

I agree with creativemom. Clinical experience is a must. I am employed full-time by a law firm, coming in with 34 years of nursing experience under my belt. When things are really busy, we will contract another LNC temporarily. The attorneys here won't even talk to anyone with less than 10 years of experience. Keep in mind that when you work independantly, you are on your own.

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Specializes in TELE, CVU, ICU.
Hi everyone,

I just recently passed my boards and am now officially an RN! I am not a bedside nurse and have never wanted to do bedside nursing. I really want to do legal nurse consulting. I am currently working at a hospital in the NICU as a secretary and previously worked on a telemetry floor as a secretary for 3 years. I have almost 5 years total of hospital secretary work. Do you think I will be able to become a successful legal nurse consultant without do any bedside nursing prior?

Thanks!

In a word: NO

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I've been a court reporter for over 23 years. I'm currently on leave because I'm a nursing student. (I hope to never go back to court reporting.) No, I doubt any attorney would hire you to be their legal nurse consultant/nursing expert without any nursing experience. The more experience you have and the more nursing credentials, the better chance you will have of being hired. (A jury won't value your opinion and your qualifications as an expert would be challenged by the opposing party if you have no experience, which could result in your testimony not even being admissible in a court of law.) And when you do get hired as a consultant, I highly suggest getting a deposit/retainer before you begin work on the case. Some attorneys are slow at paying and some never pay.

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I agree with tnbutterfly...you need actual RN work experience before anyone would consider you an expert. Book knowledge is great, but nothing compared to actual working experience. Legal nurse consultants usually are asked to reivew all types of cases, so sticking with the NICU as a RN would limit your experiences. I worked as a nurses aide while going to nursing school. It helped me get used to the hospital environment, but working as a RN was so different.

Forgive me if this sounds rude, but why would you want to be a nurse if you did not want to interact with patients. Think of all the opportunities to make a difference in someone's life whether it is at the bedside, in a clinic, in a doctor's office, in a school, etc.

I wish you well in whatever you choose.

I always thought I wanted to be a nurse. But once I started doing clinicals I realized it was not what I wanted to do. Going to school and interacting with patients did not bring me joy. I actually dreaded having to go to the hospital for clinicals. I thought about quitting multiple times throughout the program but everyone told me to stick it out. So I did. But I won't start a career in something I know I will absolutely hate. Sorry to say but I will never do hospital nursing.

Thank you to everyone else who has replied. I am going to continue looking for ways to use my RN without having to do hospital nursing.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Case Management, Pediatrics.
I always thought I wanted to be a nurse. But once I started doing clinicals I realized it was not what I wanted to do. Going to school and interacting with patients did not bring me joy. I actually dreaded having to go to the hospital for clinicals. I thought about quitting multiple times throughout the program but everyone told me to stick it out. So I did. But I won't start a career in something I know I will absolutely hate. Sorry to say but I will never do hospital nursing.

Thank you to everyone else who has replied. I am going to continue looking for ways to use my RN without having to do hospital nursing.

I wish you all the best as you strive to find the right fit for yourself.

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Specializes in TELE, CVU, ICU.

This is why nurses eat their young.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
This is why nurses eat their young.

No, it's not.

The OP asked a legit question that was important for her.

This was uncalled for all the way around. :down:

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

To the OP, we wish you well in all things regarding your nursing career. Good luck.

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