Vickie Milazzo course

lindarn · Mar 1, 2012

Don't take out a loan to take this program. Potential doctors, lawyers, dentists, veternarians, take out loans to attend professional schools. They are guaranteed to be able to earn enough in their chosen field to be able to pay these loans back, and earn a good living to boot.

There are no guarantees as a legal nurse consultant. The market is flooded with LNC wannabees, and I have been told more than once that legal nurses are dime a dozen. How are you going to pay back this loan if you are unemployed, and probably need money from unemployment and your savings to live on?

There is no mystery information that will be learned from LNC programs. You already know how to read medical records, decipher doctors' handwriting, should know what should go on in the hospital. Know medication dosages. etc. Why do you want to take out a loan to learn what you already know how to do? If you do not have quality nursing experience, all of the overpriced LNC programs will not buy you credibility with an attorney.

You can take low cost marketing and business classes at local community college, and call the local Small Business Association. They offer free guidance, and offfer low cost classes on how to start a business.

The AALNC, the national organization of LNCs, offers an excellant, affordable, LNC program that is entirely on line. It is offered in modules, and you pay for the module as you take it, so you can spread out the cost of the program.

Don't let me tell you how to spend you money. If you ar hell bent on having to take out a loan that you may not be able to pay back, go ahead. But remember what grandma used to tell you. If you have to borrow, you cannot afford it. If you are unemployed, it is more important to live within you means.

If you are looking for a way to earn extra income, you would be better off taking a program to become a certified wound care nurse. That is something that is more likely to pay for itself over time. You can be an Independant Wound Care nurse, and market yourself to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, senior citizen centers, etc.

Again, do what you want. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN ,BSN,CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

caliotter3 · Mar 1, 2012

Whether I was working or not working, further educational efforts have always cost money. That money could have been better spent on living expenses and on job hunting. LNC courses have a solid reputation for being high cost, with low return.

rachel33138 · Mar 1, 2012

Thank you soooo much for your advice. It's funny that you mentioned wound care because that was something I was also considering.

Thanks again I appreciate it.

Editorial Team / Admin · Mar 1, 2012

The LNC career is probably the hardest job I've ever done. It takes constant marketing to stay afloat even with years of past clients from which to choose.

In saying this, the educative entity for this career whether it is the Milazzo course, the AALNC online course, or any one of several others, is not at fault for the failure of anyone doing this. Sure, some courses are very expensive, but again, that in and of itself is never a factor for failure. It is simply and singularly, marketing yourself as an LNC.

And, in saying this, I never advise anyone to seek this career path unless they know full-well going into it that it will be difficult to get started AND stay gainfully employed as an LNC. Also, I would never advise anyone to seek out this career path if they do not have a true love of hours and hours of paperwork, and hours and hours of research. No one should consider becoming an LNC to "supplement" their income or because they are "tired of bedside nursing", or wish to "get rich quick". Many, many become an LNC, become disillusioned, and never work a single day. Others realize the up-front expense for the tools needed to do professional med-legal work is not feasible. Very very few are totally successful.

Right now, formal education as an LNC is not mandatory. Anyone (RN) can become an LNC and use the letters, "LNC", after their name. Only the AALNC provides certification as an LNC w/o prior education (after the working LNC meets stringent pre-cert requirements). No other entity provides that.

My advice to the OP is to carefully consider what motivates you to become an LNC. Search and research the different educative entities before selecting one. And, I do wish you good luck as you consider this career path.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2012

as siri says. i took one of vm's one-day courses many years ago and realized i already knew most of that. many of the attys tell me they don't care if you're certified as an lncc (the only accredited legal nurse certification) or not, if you can do the work. anyone who does the work, with or without a certificate or a certification, can call him/herself a legal nurse consultant. that said, i'm taking the lncc cert exam anyway in a couple of weeks, having been taking the online refresher/exam prep course (which cost a lot less than vm) and been doing a bit of studying the core curriculum on my own. but i've been in this milieu for many years.

most people who do this will tell you that if you want to do it full-time to give yourself at least three to five years to build up your practice, and that means that unless you're independently wealthy or have a sugar-daddy in the wings you're still going to need to have a day job. that's about right from my perspective.

you might try wound care nursing -- build up some expertise and you'll be on my list as an expert to call for my cases anyway. :nurse: another alternative is nurse life care planning, which is another thing that nurses can take to almost instinctively; it still takes some time to build up a practice, so don't quit yer day job yet.

for more information:

legal nursing: american association of legal nurse consultants (aalnc)

life care planning:american association of nurse life care planners www.aanlcp.org

DamnGoodNurse · Mar 2, 2012

Hello Rachel,

I have taken the course with VM. It is expensive I will be paying for it for a few more years, for me I wished I had explores some other options before jumping into it because the money looks good per case. It is intensive and motiativing, and I came out thinking that I could sell ice to the Eskimos. NOT......I did everything they said you need to do short of stalking attorneys, trying to get cases. I even advertised over the net to drum up business. To no avail I live in a smaller town with only a handful of attorneys. Most of the attorneys here use their wives and or paralegals. I was turned down flat...thank you but no thank you. So this leaves me with all the materials and no cases. I personally wished I had not done it. And you have to renew and update to keep your certification, mine expires at the end of the year, I doubt I will renew it tha also is expensive at 2000.00 plus. I did take the course Aug of 2008.

I wish you the best, take some time to think about it it alot of money and not as easy as it looks.

rachel33138 · Mar 2, 2012

Hi Grn Tea,

Thank you for your advice. I have never heard of "Nurse Life care planning". I will look into it.

thank you again for writing.

rachel33138 · Mar 2, 2012

Wow....did you say 2000 for renewal? Are they serious?

lindarn · Mar 2, 2012

$2000 to renew a certificate? Lawyers and doctors don't pay nearly that to renew their medical or law licenses. There's a sucker born every minute. Why else would anyone pay that kind of money? What else can you say?

I belong to a Legal Nurse listserve. A couple of years ago, one of our members, decided to sell her used, very expensive, VM LNC program, on E Bay, Craigslist, and I think on the listserve.She was trying to find a way to recover some of the money she spent on the program, she had not been able to get enough business to recover the cost.

VM chimed in and threatened to sue her for, "copyrite infringement", of all things, for trying to sell a product that she legally purchased. True story. I was more than shocked. If you sell a used car, is that," copyrite infringement"? You are not claiming that you invented the car, or hold a patent for the design. The same with any LNC program. You bought it, and it is yours to do what ever you want with it.

I believe that the LNC involved, called her bluff, and she finally backed off.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

sdaug90 · Mar 2, 2012

I am one of the millions who took the VMI course. I am at my five year mark in May. I seldom do LNC work, but occasionally do have some reviews BECAUSE I also decided to become a nurse Life Care Planner. There was a little blurb in VMI's core curriculum, so I decided to check into it.

I have had great success as a NLCP. Please visit http://www.aanlcp.org as there is so much information. There are a few courses that you can take, and I do recommend taking a course and becoming certified as it adds to your credibility. The downside is that you will have to be a testifying expert. This is not a behind the scenes job.

lindarn · Mar 2, 2012

I forgot to ad, that the AALNC also offers wonderful, low cost, books and marketing materials, how to start an LNC business, etc. The "LNC Core Curriculum", has all the information that you need to learn about becoming and LNC.

All of these materials are available on the AALNC web site, are VERY resonably priced.

I would investigate these, along with the other areas that I mentioned above. Community Colleges for marketing and business classes. You might also contact the Paralegal programs in the community colleges, and take some paralegal classes to learn more about the law, how it works in malpractice cases.

These classes are not meant for you to become a paralegal. You services will be more valuable to an attorney if you can assist with the Trial Prep, know understand how malpractice cases work, etc.

I took them and I enjoyed them immensely. It increased my understanding of the law. How can you help an attorney, if you don't know how and why certain things are done the way they are, what will help or hinder an attorney, etc? It allows your to communication with an attorne,y to be on the same page. Sort of. You at least have an idea what he/she is talking about.

Also, the attorneys who use their wives, legal assistants to review the medical records, you can try to point out that they have no medical knowledge, and are probably missing ALOT of stuff, that an experienced RN would not. Maybe offer to do a, "test case", at a reduced cost. If you go through cases that were reviewed by legal assistants, amateurs, and you find "things", that they missed, that are important to the case, you will have proved your point that your services are valuable. Point out that they are missing stuff that would ad to the value of their case, and that their clients will be eternally grateful if you found stuff, that ultimately provided them with increased money in a law suit.

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn,

RN, BSN,CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW