Some nurses may want to broaden their horizons and become legal nurse consultants.
Registered nurses (RN) and other professionals with nursing experience may choose to expand their horizons and work as legal nurse consultants (LNC) and aid the legal process and the judicial system with their nursing expertise and experience. However, becoming an LNC involves an optional certification process that usually involves a course of study.
Job Description
As a legal nurse consultant, a nurse uses his medical expertise to interpret and explain medical data as well as consult on legal issues relating to medicine and inform lawyers and other parties on medical facts, terminology and other necessary information. LNCs work with not only lawyers but their clients as well as other physicians during the legal process. Sometimes, LNCs even work as expert witnesses in trials or have to locate more specialized expert witnesses for certain trials.
Requirements
To become a LNC, an individual must first be a registered nurse and have relevant nursing experience. Additionally, an LNC needs to know about and have experience in the legal system, especially in issues relating to medical cases. This way she becomes able to prepare and interpret medical reports for trial as well as come up with questions for the lawyers to use in the courtroom and prepare witnesses to give testimony.
Certificate Progams
To learn all the legal terminology and issues required of an LNC, interested parties need to take a course that can run one or two semesters in order to earn a certificate proving the nurse is educated in the ways of being a legal nurse consultant. Often institutions that offer these courses do it for profit and simply require that the nurse take the course to earn the certificate proving that she took the course. The content of these courses are not standardized, and nurses cannot officially carry credentials, such as LNCC (Legal Nurse Consultant Certified), with their name; however, nurses can note the completion of the course on their resumes.
Certification Programs
Certification programs are different from certificate programs. Certification programs also teach LNC skills but require that the nurse actually prove that he is competent in the skills he is learning. These courses are often standardized and thus ensure that all aspiring LNCs get a similar education. Nurses can find certification courses, often with staff made up of professional nursing educators, in such colleges like nursing schools, continuing education schools and paralegal programs. Many certification programs also require taking a final exam to prove that the prospective LNC is certifiable.
Other Considerations
Though certification programs require that the LNC get tested again from time to time in order to prove continuing competency as an LNC, having the official credentials of an LNC have benefits like giving the nurse more credibility with lawyers and other legal entities than nurses who have merely finished certificate programs. Thus, official certification means better chances of finding work. However, some nurses who have only finished certificate programs will actually label themselves as LNCs, a practice that the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants does not approve of.
Tags: certificate programs, legal nurse, require that, certificate proving, Consultant Certified