1st time Legal Nurse Consultant- Help!

[CalishortyRN]

Hello all,

I was offered a position as a LNC and looking for some help/opinions. I have been an ICU RN for over 6 years now and am currently enrolled in an online MSN-FNP program. So this position sounds like a great fit with the flexibility it offers.

Its a work from home LNC position, flexible hours, if I choose 30hrs/wk I would receive benefits as well. They had said that this is a 'pharm vigilant project', that is projected to last 1 year(any insight if this is good?). They way they worded it is that once this project is over they move people from within onto the next project. I have never done anything close to this in the past so wondering is this position as good as it sounds?

Being in online school I'm used to having to set my own schedule & be motivated with assignments. With everything going on right now being at home & not at the hospital wouldn't be the worst thing.

Thank you!

[Brittnurse4]

Hi! I'm considering doing LNC in the near future. I have been an RN for a year in August and specializing in endoscopy. I don't know if I am the most qualified person to answer your question but I think this sounds like a really good position to take. As long as you can handle 30 plus hours weekly of LNC work, FNP school and (are you working at the ICU?) your regular full time job, I think it would be really cool to try. If you are not working in the ICU and just doing this part time, then I say go for it!!

Since I am considering doing the online certificate for LCN, can I ask you questions and advice? How did you get the position that you were offered? How does it work and what would you do? Is it paid and how much? I was thinking of emailing some medical malpractice attorneys and asking if they were open to having me part time from home. Is that reasonable? I am also planning on doing my MSN Admin next year (Spring of 2021) Lets say I get my LNC and still want to work full time in Endo and also go to school...do you think that would be reasonable or too much?

Thanks for listening and hopefully responding! -Brittney

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

There are many ways to work as an LNC. Most people think it's just working for attorneys in their firms as an in-house consultant on medical malpractice cases, but that's far and away not all. If you have expertise in a clinical area, you might be asked to be a testifying expert and sell your services to attorneys who need your expertise. People with WOCN, CNM, CRNA, ONC, CRRN, APRN. and many other nursing specialty certification holders do this.

You might also be asked to do a one-time or time-lmited project reviewing charts for some particular purpose. Neither of these roles require any particular legal nurse consulting education per se; the attys are hiring you for your expertise in (whatever). There are other LNC roles-- life care planning, risk management, informatics, SANE, death examiners/coroners, corrections nursing... all are LNC niches.

MANY, if not most, LNCs find their LNC work doesn't get them so much work that they can quit their day job for several years.

There is only ONE certification in legal nurse consulting, the AALNC LNCC, for which you need to have time in practice to qualify to sit the exam. This is congruent with other nursing certifications, in which you have to have demonstrated expertise before obtaining the certification. Credentials from commercial programs (e.g., CLNC, ALNC) are not certifications, nor are graduation from various college programs, although these may prepare you to sit the LNCC exam if you meet other criteria. Go to www.aalnc.org to check it all out.