Would I be a good candidate to start LNC?

lindarn · Jan 14, 2013

Unfortunately, you are VERY UNQUALIFIED, to do Legal Nurse Consulting. You have NO practical experience in bedside nursing, or ANY nursing experience at all.

Attorneys hire nurses for their education, experience, and expertise. You may have a nursing education, but, you have none of the experience that an attorneys needs. Medical Malpractice cases are VERY expensive for an attorney to litigate. There are ALOT of out of pocket expenses that an attorney has to pay up front, and out of pocket, before he/she, and take the case to trial. And there is NO guatantee that they are going to win, and recoup their losses. I can promise you, they they are not interested in a new grad with no experience, and do not want to pay someone $100/hr,+, to learn on the job. Attorneys hire nurses because THEY have NO medical education, or experience, so why would they hire a new grad, who also has no experience. That is like the blind leading the blind.

There is more to Legal Nurse Consulting, that reading medical records. What is the usual practice on a particular nursing specialty or unit? What is the usual course of recovery of a particular disease, surgery, the complications, etc? No, Medical Transciption is NOT BEDSIDE NURSING EXPERIENCE!

Again, you have NO experience that an attorney would be interested in as a new grad, with NO experience, other that a supervised, student nurses clinical.

I am sorry that you are not happy about having to do, "floor nursing", "pay your dues", and obtain credible, hospital experience, that my include working nights, weekends, holiday, etc. That is the life of a nurse. You should have researched the nursing profession, say, following a nurse for a day, before you took the plunge and went to nursing school.

Unfortunately, the, "nice jobs, with better hours", are usually reserved for nurses with bedside, nursing, experience, not nursing student, Medical Transcription", experience.

You are going to have to re-evaluate your career goals, and decide what you want to do in nursing. I can assure you, that at least one year of bedside nursing, is going to be a requirement. Sorry!

JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Somewhere in the PACNW

AGMLegalNurse · Jan 14, 2013

On a more gentle note, unfortunately the previous post is correct, you need experience. I wish you all the best with your future and hope you find your true calling:)

elkpark · Jan 14, 2013

Nothing beats (or substitutes for) actual clinical nursing experience -- that's what makes LNCs valuable and marketable.

d2by · Jan 15, 2013

@ Michelle, I'm a nurse for 23 years a nurse practitioner for 16 of those years and legal nurse for about 2.5 years. Legal nursing is tough. You must really know your stuff and have nursing experience. Even with my extensive background there are times I have doubt. So with that said yes you need.clinical.experience. if you don't want to do med surg there are other avenues like doctors office home care school nursing psych etc. Once you get your experience you can "specialize" in that are of legal nursing. I focus my area in legal nursing to long term care and home care, but do some med surg too, but I do have experience there. Sorry you had to be exposed to the previous nasty writer. I understand where she comes from but she did not have to verbalize it that way. Good luck.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2013

Hello there!
I am currently in an RN program for my ADN. I graduate in May. I worked at ** ******** in the OR as a PCT for 6 months and I most recently worked as a PCT in Neurology at **** Clinic for 6 months (resigned to finish out my last term in the RN program). I currently work as a Medical Transcriptionist and have for the past 9 years. Since I have been working with medical records for so long (albeit mostly radiology reports), could that be used in lieu of 'floor nursing' experience to get into the biz of being an LNC? I do plan on taking the LNC courses to get more of a 'legal procedures' perspective.
I know what I do not want to do...floor nursing. I cannot stress enough how much I admire floor nurses and their dedication to patient care. It's just not something I am interesting in. I am hoping my many years of QA and transcribing medical reports for patient's charts will give me an 'in' I can use for this type of nursing career...what say you?

While your ambitions are admirable....unfortunately....being a medical transcriptionist will not give you the necessary experience required to be an effective LNC. There is a lot more involved in nursing and being an LNC than radiology reports.

Having this experience will give you a slight edge in school for the terminology will be familiar to you. But you will have to "floor" nursing before you can acquire most of the positions away from the bedside for they require an expertise at the bedside that you can apply to you present position.

Just working in an acute care hospital or clinic might get you an edge over other graduating grads in getting a new grad position...it will not make you qualified/eligible for all positions that you desire.

I wish you the best.

d2by · Jan 18, 2013

It was not just a hard truth. It was a nasty response. Even though we are anonymous here the comment was directed towards the person "Michelle" posting the question and obviously she was upset that Michelle does not want to "pay her dues" by being a floor nurse. All she had to say is that she needed extensive clinical experience to succeed in this field.Linda RN's 5th and 6th paragraph clearly shows her disgust and there is no reason for it. Nurses really eat their young. We need to support and help direct people in the right direction and not have the attitude that I paid my dues now you must suffer too. We all have said Michelle needs clinical experience to do this job and her past work history will not help her achieve this goal. That's all that needs to be said.Michelle don't let this discussion discourage you. Get your clinical experience in an area you would enjoy. Like I said. It doesn't have to be med surg. Nursing is vast. There will be people out there to guide you and assist you and not rip you to shred. I had wonderful mentors. I know someone will get on their high horse and post another "hard truth" response to my post as they like to call it. Don't worry. I have on big girl panties. You will learn not only does it sometimes comes from the docs but it comes from our own too. Learn from it and move on. Take whatever you can get from it and let the negativity roll off.Good luck!

d2by · Jan 18, 2013

Nice response ESME

Tippyzmom · Jan 18, 2013

The beauty of nursing as a profession is that there are so many different opportunities. It is one of the things that still attracts me to my profession after all these years. I do wonder though michele 742 what is motivating you to become a nurse. Providing care for patients is challenging, no matter what discipline you choose. Please take some time to consider what you truly wish to gain from your education, because if you are not driven by a desire to help people, nursing might not necessarily be the career choice for you. Best of luck, whatever you decide to do and know that experience is most often the best teacher.

michele742 · Jan 21, 2013

Thank you all so very much! Oh, and for the poster who seemed harsh...didn't bother me in the least :) Trust me...I have very thick skin and I am secure in my reasons for wanting to be a nurse that I don't feel I have to work on the floor to prove my dedication to being a viable contributor to the profession.

I have known for many years what I "don't" want to do in nursing. Working as a PCT in Neuro and in OR has confirmed that, along with clinicals. I LOVE the floor nurses. When one thinks of an RN, working on the floor with direct patient contact is what most people think of. Since the beginning, I have LOVED the OR. I am currently on the list for a perioperative program. In addition to my 9 years as a medical transcriptionist, I worked as a PCT (of course, totally different animal, as is the OR).

I don't feel that one has to feel like they want to change the world in order to be an awesome RN…helping people comes in many different packages. I chose this profession because I LOVE medicine and the study of the human body. I love people and I have a lot of compassion for others. A touch, a laugh, using a person's name and acknowledging their fears and listening to their concerns is a huge part of it. Trust me, I have seen a lot of RN's 'pretend' to care only to berate a patient behind their back (happened to me today at clinicals). So, to the poster who was harsh...don't pretend all floor RN's are saints and are there for their sense of duty...it's just not true.

Although I am on the list for the perioperative program, only 4 out of 60 are chosen. There is a great possibility I will not be chosen. I have been a medical transcriptionist for 9 years and got into it without any experience or certification...due to networking and hard work showing that my love for medicine and research was strong enough to overcome my deficiencies. I am an "out of the box" thinker...I like working medical transcription, but I want to do something with my RN degree. If I don't get into the OR, I plan on looking into pursuing LNC or possibly even Case Management. I am appreciative to know that my experience as an MT alone will not enable me to become an LNC...this means I must work harder and find a niche that will lead to Rome :) If that is indeed what I would like to pursue. As a 'nearing' new grad, I am checking ALL avenues and all of your input is extremely helpful...that is why I came here looking for answers, and I am so appreciative of you all taking the time to respond at all.

To those who have defended my question...much love to you! :) Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes and when someone shows compassion and mutual respect, as you all have shown, it epitomizes the type of nurse I would love to be...compassionate.

To the Harsh poster in response to my question...much love to you too; because, the more someone tells me "you can't" the more I strive to prove "yes I can!" :)

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Jan 23, 2013

It seems to me something in billing would be a good match, with your chart experience and knowledge billing or coding would be a good fit.

elkpark · Jan 23, 2013

Case management will also require some serious clinical experience for you to be considered qualified.