legalnurse22

My question, have any of you taken the CFN certification exam that is offered through the American College of Forensic Examiners International? If so, does the Kaplan on-line Nurse forensic course cover the needed material? I know that the ACFEI also...

glad to have you with us. It's been a long time since I posted (been busy!!!!!). Start with contacting the American Radiological Nurses Association (http://www.arna.net), they can help you. I used to belong a long time ago when I worked in Radiolo...

Well, I am on Unit 6 of the very last course in Kaplan's program. I have loved every part of it. I've completed some "ride-alongs" with law enforcement, have spent some time with both coroners and MEs and will soon do an externship with both prosec...

cherokeeb, You are never too old (53 myself, but who's counting). I look at it as having lots of experience. OK, I'll try to answer a few of your questions, I'm on my last couple of units and I'll complete my Kaplan FN program: 1) Yes, the instru...

Welcome NicBSN and hdorsey, This is a great avenue to persue. But I won't "sugar-coat" it, it takes lots of hard work. You can make it work, it doesn't matter if you choose to work in-house or work as an independent consultant. I'm independent and...

The AALNC conference in Atlanta was awesome. The speakers were dynamic and I had a difficult time selecting which sessions I was going to attend. But several good things came out of the meeting. 1) ANA and the credentialing board accepted the updat...

I agree with MYDESYGN, I am a Nursing Supervisor and we have coverage 24/7/365. We stay on top of staffing:patient ratio. Our CEO would like to staff totally by numbers, but we stand our ground and staff by acquity. It would be a "MESS" if we didn...

Demonsthenes, "Legal Nurse Consultants utilize different skills than paralegals and nurse-paralegals, skills we already possess from our nursing education and experience. We participate in cases where health, illness or injury is at issue. We do ...

I am almost halfway through with my forensic nursing course through Kaplin (I love it) and I already have job offers. Don't know which avenue I want to go yet, but it will probably still be as an Independent Consultant and work with DAs and Law Enfo...

Hey mlwRN, I took the Vicki Milazzo 6 day course. There are some LNCs in our local chapter that went through Kaplan's course (no negative comments from any of them). I am currently enrolled in Kaplan's Forensic Nurse program. I love it. I plan to...

I agree with Siri. The money's good, but it won't just fall in your lap. You have to market yourself. And I mean on a daily basis. I am an independent consultant (mainly because the salary for in-house nurses in my area is very low). Marketing is...

Hi Nrse Nancy, I took Vicki's course last Oct. in Atlanta. I started at the VIP level ( I had the money put aside - had been saving it). I found that having the extra case study material is very helpful and the unlimited mentoring helps so much whe...

mgchat76, I'll try to answer some of your questions. I'm a Legal Nurse Consultant who is also working on taking Nursing Forensics courses (on-line). There are several options open besides Sexual Assault. Depending on your state system, you can run fo...

Hi, Where are you staying? If it in the Jackson area I can give you the name of some psych hospitals to apply to. There are several around here. Some are total psych hospitals and some are psych units at other hospitals. Reply back and I'll hel...

Everyone has codes that they'll never forget. Mine was a couple of weeks ago. We had an elderly lady whose family said "you do everything for our mother". The Doc running the code was not our favorite (kind of a jerk). We coded this lady (straight ...

Guess I need to clarify. I've been a nurse for 27 years, and just recently became a Legal Nurse Consultant. Working mostly with Medical Malpractice and Personal Injuriy cases, but now concentrating on criminal cases/abuse. (Nurse Forensics). I wil...

If any of you attend Holmes CC ADN Program (and are 2nd year), I will see you on Aug. 17. I will be giving a documentation inservice re: Tampering with the Medical Record, and how to document/chart to protect yourself if you are ever named in a laws...

I'm going to answer this as a Nursing Supervisor because most of the legal aspects that I would say have been covered. I do everything possible not to pull someone to an area that they're not qualified to be in. That puts the hospital, nurse, and pa...

Hi ChattyPatty, Forensic Nursing is exciting and I do plan to talk with some of our coroners and plan to take the Death Investigation Course that's offered through the State ME's office. I would like to do some "intern work" with a coroner or ME to g...

Stitcher, I'm not sure how the hospitals in your area work, but you might want to check into what I'm going to tell you. Some of our hospitals will pay for school providing you sign a contract to work for them after you graduate. For example, they p...

Hello everyone, I've been a RN for 27 years in Jackson. I've done telemetry, PACU, Radiology, Med-Surg and currently a Nursing Supervisor ( for the last 8 years). I have made a few changes lately. I'm a Legal Nurse Consultant and also taking a Nurs...

another bit of FYI for jdkaos and others, Anytime that you have a concern with not getting a resident or attending to respond, always follow your chain of command (and document). Being a Nursing Supervisor, I deal with this all the time. Notify you...

Man, I would've loved to have gotten that case. Several problems, just to mention a few. Deviation from several SOC's, P&P's, documentation, and my favorite, TAMPERING, if the records were "missing". I bet there were some people squriming during...

I agree with Lindarn regarding documentation. It is the only thing that will save you or sink you. I teach a lot of documentation classes to nursing students and to hospitals and I stress importance. I also tell them what I look for when I'm doi...

Denise, I took Vickie Milazzo's course (her advertisement is at the top of the page). I took my certification exam at the end of the course. I still plan to take the AALNC exam also, but you have to have 2000 hours of consulting experience to sit f...