Marketing as a Legal Nurse Consultant: The Key to Success Part I

Marketing is the key to success for any Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC). A hard career choice, yes, but rewarding, intriguing, and something that the LNC can do for a fellow Nursing colleague ... serve as their advocate.

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Marketing as a Legal Nurse Consultant: The Key to Success Part I

You are already a Professional Registered Nurse (RN). You have been educated, received a degree and have experience working in many areas of nursing. Securing a job has not been problematic in the past. Yes, the economy has changed and some nurses are finding it difficult finding their "dream job". Many times the RN would attend one interview, complete with resume/CV, a list of a few references, and walk out with job in hand. Since job security has changed of late and the ease of securing a job this is not as simple. Sill RN jobs are out there and can be found in abundance.

Sell Yourself

"Selling" yourself as an RN has never really been a challenge as stated above. The need was there and you were available.

But, Nurses truly do not know how to market their abilities and/or "sell themselves". For the Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) this has never been truer. The LNC must be positive, persistent, demonstrative, powerful, professional, and humble. They must show that they can take on a case and rapidly review the merits of the case. Time is money and this certainly applies to what the Attorney is searching ... an LNC who can produce answers quickly using evidenced-based standards.

The LNC must assure that their (LNC) areas are focused on nursing clinical and managerial standards and medicine which links to medical law. But, you must ensure that you are the consultant/expert in nursing and all that encompasses. You are not the legal expert and the "Law" is the domain of the attorney-client.

The LNC must be prepared during any interview to show proof they can

  • Review a case for merit
  • Interpret and translate all medical/nursing terms, diagnosis, and treatment plans for the Attorney
  • Write brief to comprehensive reports outlining adherence to/from the Nurse Practice Act (NPA), Scope of Practice (SOP), as well as detail adherence to/from hospital/clinic policies and procedures
  • Produce timelines and illustrations that detail events that occurred in seconds, minutes, hours, and days of the patient's stay in the hospital/clinic

Other important duties that are expected

  • Locate and secure expert witnesses
  • Prepare the nurse-client for deposition
  • Review and analyze depositions and prepare for trial preparation if necessary

Salaries

As I have stated about salaries in past LNC discussions, that greatly depends on your ability to market yourself, your area (state/region) of practice, if you branch out nation-wide, etc. Some command the higher fees we have all seen advertised. Most, however, are under that at varying ranges.

I have also said that as an RN consultant (LNC), you are not an amateur. LNCs need to remember that. You are the expert in this area (not in the Law - that is the attorney). So, market yourself/sell yourself as such.

I own my business and as a self-employed entrepreneur, that is very demanding. Marketing, as pointed out, is the key to success and the LNC must continue to market him/herself at all times. As a self-employed LNC, I do have down times, am able to be somewhat flexible with my schedules including time off/vacations, etc. But, I must be quite disciplined, too. Disciplined to stay focused, get up every day and finish a task as I face another meeting with business partners and/or clients, seek out new clients, exhibit the business, meet demanding deadlines with cases.

The above discussion is only the beginning of what is expected when one decides to become an LNC.

Part II of this Article will reveal information needed to get started marketing to the Defense Attorney.

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sirI

About sirI, MSN, APRN, NP

(Editorial Team / Admin)

sirI is an OB-GYN NP-BC, (Emeritus), FNP-BC, and Legal Nurse Consultant. Specialty areas include OB-GYN, trauma, med-legal consulting, forensics, and education.

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Thank you sirI! I am looking forward to your next article.

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

Thank you, RNinSC23

I think you will find this next Article filled with all kinds of ways to utilize marketing tools. I'll try to even include some templates that can help get you started.

Stay tuned. Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm gonna be a little busy cooking 'round the house here, but I will get the Article out in the next few days.

If you have any questions before the next Article comes out, just post here. Or, better yet, after reading the next Article, write down your questions/concerns and we can discuss them then.

Hope you have a good Thanksgiving holiday. :)

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

Article II is up and includes some marketing techniques. This Article strictly discusses the LNC working with the Defense Attorney.

Please see: Marketing as a Defense Legal Nurse Consultant: The Key to Success Part II

Later, I will be covering in Article II:

  • More inclusive Services Provided
  • Templates to utilize that cover how you can assist the Defense Attorney

If you have any questions/concerns about the LNC role in general, please post here in this first Article. There are many other ways the LNC can benefit any Attorney.

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Thank you for the articles, SirI.

I have long been interested in the legal profession, and call me crazy, but I found business law fascinating. I have more than a few of the qualities I believe necessary to be successful as a LNC.

However, I have never actually pursued LNC as a viable option as I live in a rural area. I see that you briefly mentioned this as a limiting factor. May I ask if it is even a reasonable path to pursue if one lives in a region/city of approximately 150,000? Or is relocation the best (only) option?

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Thank you for the articles, SirI.

I have long been interested in the legal profession, and call me crazy, but I found business law fascinating. I have more than a few of the qualities I believe necessary to be successful as a LNC.

However, I have never actually pursued LNC as a viable option as I live in a rural area. I see that you briefly mentioned this as a limiting factor. May I ask if it is even a reasonable path to pursue if one lives in a region/city of approximately 150,000? Or is relocation the best (only) option?

Yes, a population that size can certainly utilize an RN LNC. You don't necessarily have to work in the area in which you reside either. You can work in any area of the state and even out of state. Most of my clients are from out of state.

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Sirl - thank you for all of the great information that you are willing to share!

I am a board certified med/surg RN with 5 years of experience, and I have been drawn to the idea of becoming a LNC for the past couple of years, but am just now trying to research what I can and am preparing to launch my business in the next year or so if I can!

Unfortunately, I have become familiar with the process of researching and analyzing large sized medical records, audit reports, etc., because my father fell victim to sub-standard hospital care and ultimately died because of it in 2014. My family has brought a wrongful death suit, and are awaiting the trial date of February 2017. I realize now that all the research that I did, summaries, reports and timelines that I created, in an effort to understand everything about what happened to him and where it went wrong, are much what a LNC does! There was also much investigative work as well, which uncovered nurses changing their documentation in the medial record 6 days later, the cause of death being changed last minute on his death certificate, and so much more I could go on and on about which absolutely astonished me! With permission of my family, I would like to use the reports and timelines I created from information on my father's case as sample work product to get started with. These were created with word, excel and powerpoint which I have used extensively for more than 20 years. Would you mind sharing the names of legal software that you use with me, so that I may add that to my research?

Also, can you tell me much about how a Legal Nurse Investigator differs from a LNC?

Thanks so much in advance!

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Sirl - thank you for all of the great information that you are willing to share!

I am a board certified med/surg RN with 5 years of experience, and I have been drawn to the idea of becoming a LNC for the past couple of years, but am just now trying to research what I can and am preparing to launch my business in the next year or so if I can!

Unfortunately, I have become familiar with the process of researching and analyzing large sized medical records, audit reports, etc., because my father fell victim to sub-standard hospital care and ultimately died because of it in 2014. My family has brought a wrongful death suit, and are awaiting the trial date of February 2017. I realize now that all the research that I did, summaries, reports and timelines that I created, in an effort to understand everything about what happened to him and where it went wrong, are much what a LNC does! There was also much investigative work as well, which uncovered nurses changing their documentation in the medial record 6 days later, the cause of death being changed last minute on his death certificate, and so much more I could go on and on about which absolutely astonished me! With permission of my family, I would like to use the reports and timelines I created from information on my father's case as sample work product to get started with. These were created with word, excel and powerpoint which I have used extensively for more than 20 years. Would you mind sharing the names of legal software that you use with me, so that I may add that to my research?

Also, can you tell me much about how a Legal Nurse Investigator differs from a LNC?

Thanks so much in advance!

Hello and welcome to allnurses.com, CityturnedcountryRN

First, my sincere condolences regarding your Father's death and the events surrounding. I cannot fathom the grief and anxiety you endured.

Sounds like you backed into a somewhat "on-the-job" training for the LNC career. You are heads above many who pursue this career path.

A Legal Nurse Investigator is a Legal Nurse Consultant. But, I'm sure the former has added job descriptions that the latter does not ... and vice versa. Both would work with Attorneys, certainly, but the Investigator would focus more so on errors, fraud, criminal negligence, etc. Anything that would point to intentional or non-intentional medical record tampering would be paramount. But, bear in mind, the Legal Nurse Consultant can do all of that as well.

I sent you a private message about the software.

Good luck with your plans to become an LNC and I hope you enjoy allnurses.com.

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Specializes in OB, Medical-Legal, Public Health.

sirl,

As an ADN nurse in East Texas, I worked as a legal nursing consultant. I'd been nursing for eight years and wanted a break from the hospital. I attended a Vickie Millazo workshop, and informed an attorney friend at church. He said his firm had just created a nursing position. I was interviewed, hired, and enjoyed nine years with them. I quit when we moved out of state.

Since that time I've obtained my BSN and MSN. I'd like to return to the legal nursing consultant field, but certification requires recent experience. My years at the firm were from 1990-2000.

My preference would be behind-the-scenes, record summary and report writing. What would you recommend as step one in marketing my skills?

Thank you,

mejsp

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

Hello mejsp

It sounds as if you have had a very good career thus far as an LNC. I can imagine that you had difficulty giving up that 9 year position in the law firm. And, congratulations on your BSN and MSN education. Impressive!

As a start, I would probably try to contact my previous employer, if possible, and see if he/she/partners, etc., has/have any references/referrals or may know of other Attorneys in your present state who could give you a lead.

Have you read through this FAQ thread? There are ideas about how to get started (with any Attorney).

Along with the ideas in FAQ:

Go to the courthouse and try to attend med-mal cases. Mingle with potential attorney-clients during the break or at lunch. Be certain to carry plenty of business cards. Never be without a stash of business cards.

Consider exhibiting at your state Bar Association or state Trial Lawyers Association.

Consider advertising in one of many legal journals and/or in your state newspaper.

Join the local Chamber of Commerce.

Consider joining the American Bar Association as an associate member.

Consider joining Toastmasters. This is an excellent opportunity to hone your speaking skills before making your first cold call and/or your first attorney interview.

You can set up a luncheon meeting for potential client(s) and their employees. Make that the prime purpose for a COLD CALL. You will most often be able to get your foot in the door providing food and small talk.

I wish you GOOD LUCK in continuing your LNC career.

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