NEWS FLASH
Vickie Shares Career Experiences on Popular Women's Website
A recent article on Women.com featured Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD, discussing the career path that laid the foundation for her success. This in-depth interview explored the first jobs and current occupations of three professional women in very different industries.
As the pioneer of legal nurse consulting, Vickie is a perfect example of someone who turned her first job into an opportunity for career growth and prosperity. "Every job you have can be a valuable learning experience," observes Vickie. "It's up to you to master the lessons from each endeavor."
The Women.com website provides a wide range of lifestyle, entertainment and business news and information for today's active woman. Read about Vickie's career path in the business profile at http://www.women.com/career/features/graduation/first_job3.html.
Nursing Spectrum Magazine Publishes Vickie's Business
Start-Up Tips
It's not easy to set up a business, but reading Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD's Nursing Spectrum article provides helpful insights from this successful entrepreneur. You'll find "14 Steps to Setting Up and Managing a Profitable Business" in the May 2001, Metro edition and also at http://community.nursingspectrum.com/MagazineArticles/article.cfm?AID=3880
FROM THE EDITOR
The Answer to Burnout — Take Action
by Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
A recent research study* supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Commonwealth Fund, et al. examined job satisfaction among nurses. This study validated what we as RNs already know. More than 40% of all nurses are dissatisfied with their jobs. In fact, 22.7% of all nurses in the U.S. and 30% of nurses less than 30 years old plan to leave their hospital jobs in the next year.
I find these statistics exciting and encouraging. RNs are leaving hospitals to take control of their careers. RNs are deciding that their life's work can and should be satisfying, profitable and fun.
Say "No" to Horrendous Working Conditions
Physical and emotional exhaustion is one of the reasons cited for this rampant dissatisfaction. In my experience, that boils down to working conditions.
You don't have to sacrifice yourself to your job. Julie Krohn, a world renowned jockey, says she gave up horse racing because she had suffered so many injuries. She decided it was time to stop giving up body parts for the sake of winning.
How are you sacrificing your own body parts to nursing? Are you reduced to carrying food trays? Are you slaving away as the unit housekeeper? Are you working double shifts — and providing substandard care — because of short staffing?
Why not take your nursing skills in a new direction? There are many career alternatives for RNs and legal nurse consulting is a lucrative way to use your nursing education and expertise while enjoying true career satisfaction.
Stop Fear in Its Tracks
Don't let fear stop you from making a career move. Identify those fears, then strip them of their mystery. Replace them with thoughts that will help you achieve your full potential. Here's one thought that may help you avoid giving fear your power – imagine yourself as the hospital's waiter and housekeeper at age 65, and you'll stop the fear process in its tracks.
Join the 22.7% of RNs who are already taking action to eliminate dissatisfaction and burnout. Remember "nurses can do anything," but bold action is necessary if you're truly interested in experiencing the joy of career satisfaction. Choose to act now.
The Choice Is Yours
Legal nurse consulting is the career choice I and many of my students made. We're glad we did. Is legal nurse consulting right for you? Ultimately, only you can decide.
I urge you to make an informed decision. Take the first step today — explore this new career possibility for yourself. The worst that can happen is you will learn that legal nurse consulting isn't for you. If it's not, there will be plenty of jobs awaiting you. I hear that about 22.7 % of all hospital nursing positions will be open soon.
*Linda H. Aiken, et al., "Nurses' Reports On Hospital Care In Five Countries," Health Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 3 May/June 2001
BEST PRACTICES FOR MARKETING
How to Win New Clients by Creating Need Awareness
by Evie Baron-Hernandez
About 95% of customers say salespeople talk too much. One reason for that rough assessment may be that most salespeople start talking about their product or service before they have established need awareness with the client.
What is Need Awareness and How Does it Affect Your Ability to Sell Your Legal Nurse Consulting Services?
Need awareness is simply the process of making the client aware of his need for your services and making yourself aware of the client's specific interests.
Jumping into your full-blown sales presentation, no matter how polished or well-rehearsed, is not the most effective way to present yourself during an interview. Failing to first establish need awareness is one of the biggest mistakes people make when selling. If the client isn't aware of her need for your service, she will often become bored during your sales presentation and may even tune you out.
Establishing need awareness first, even before you start telling a prospective client about your services, gives you several key advantages:
You show the prospect that you're interested in understanding her and discovering mutual interests, the first step in establishing trust.
You pique the prospect's interest in your service.
You can focus the interview on those services she expresses interest in, thus saving time and energy for you both.
Open-Ended Questions Open the Door to Need AwarenAss
You begin establishing need awareness by asking open-ended questions that will help both you and the attorney recognize which of your services she actually needs. You can get this information with questions:
"What interests you most about the services of a legal nurse consultant?"
"When do you find you could use someone on your team with experience in the medical field?"
"What cases are you working on now that could use the input of an experienced healthcare practitioner?"
Usually the client appreciates your taking the time to gather this information first. This shows her you are interested in discussing her needs, not yours. Most importantly, this is a great way to start out a new client relationship.
Your goal is to turn on a little light in your prospect's head about how she could benefit from your services before you even start describing them. By answering open-ended questions your attorney-prospect will see how she can benefit from using your service. Your ability to create need awareness in this way will make a big difference in the success of your presentation.
Show the Prospect You Understand Her Needs
Once you have established need awareness for both you and the attorney, your next step is to verify that you understand her needs. Again, do this by asking questions:
"Would you say that you could use help conducting medical-related research and evaluating medical records and charts on some of your cases?"
"You mentioned that you have several personal injury cases involving complex healthcare issues right now." "Would you like to hear how my services would benefit you the most with a personal injury case?"
The process of mirroring back what the prospect has just told you about her needs is usually a very positive experience for her. It makes her feel that you understand her and are concerned about her needs.
Tailor Your Presentation to the Prospect's Needs
Once you have identified the attorney's need for your service, you can move to the next step of your sales presentation. Instead of launching into a standard generic presentation, match the attorney's needs with your services. Present services that this particular attorney needs to hear about first.
For example, if a prospect says her biggest challenge is researching a medical-related case, point out how you can save her time and money because:
You know how to access the medical library with ease.
You can effectively evaluate the vast array of library resources to determine what is valid and relevant to a particular case.
Your extensive experience and training enables you to locate key Standards of Care quickly.
By focusing on the prospect's needs first, you avoid boring her with services of less interest.
Another good idea is to have samples of your work on hand to show the attorney exactly what you can do for her. As you talk about specific services the attorney needs, these samples can clench the deal not only by demonstrating your expertise but also by indicating how thoroughly prepared you are for this interview — therefore exhibiting your strong work ethic and professionalism.
Don't Neglect Your Warm Prospects and Current Clients
A warm prospect or current client may already be aware of her need for your services. Don't be lulled by this familiarity. You should still ask questions to establish need awareness. The attorney's needs may have changed since the last time you spoke or met with her. The needs for a particular case may be unusual. It is critical that you become aware of the client's current needs before you move on with the selling process.
Establishing Need Awareness Helps You Sell with Ease
Approaching a potential client about your service is never easy. Establishing need awareness eliminates the awkwardness of this first meeting in several ways:
You know what to say during the appointment.
You know where to focus your presentation to create a positive outcome for both you and the attorney.
You take the pressure off the attorney who might be afraid she's going to waste her time with someone who doesn't have anything to offer her.
You take the pressure off yourself because you don't have to guess what the attorney really wants to hear from you.
You start the relationship on a positive note of trust and mutual interests.
Evie Baron-Hernandez is a customer service and marketing expert with 14 years of experience. With Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc., she serves as a mentor, assisting LNCs in setting up their businesses and marketing themselves to attorneys. Evie is also an accomplished public speaker.
BEST PRACTICES FOR STANDARDS OF CARE
American Heart Association Issues New Guidelines for
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
by Rose Clifford, RN, CLNC
The American Heart Association has published new guidelines for the management of cardiac and respiratory arrests. Recommended changes in "Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care – International Consensus on Science" are classified according to the quality of the evidence supporting those changes. These culturally neutral guidelines are adaptable to healthcare settings throughout the world.
Basic Life Support Measures – Formerly, the first choice for basic life support measures was bag-mask ventilation. The new guidelines suggest using airway ventilation methods once ACLS providers are available. Two superior methods of ventilation, laryngeal mask airway and esophageal tracheal combitube, are strongly recommended over continued bag-mask ventilation. Both are associated with a lower rate of gastric content aspiration.
For unconscious apneic patients, tracheal intubation remains the procedure of choice. The new guidelines suggest that only ACLS providers with regular experience (6-12 tracheal intubations per year) should attempt intubation. If intubation is performed, proper placement should be confirmed by an end-tidal carbon dioxide detector or an esophageal detector device.
Defibrillation Response – For the first time, the American Heart Association has set in-hospital goals for responding to defibrillation. The guidelines recommend response times of less than three minutes throughout the hospital and all outpatient facilities. This standard will require hospitals to revise their policies to consider the use of automated external defibrillators by non-physicians.
CPR – A number of alternatives to standard CPR techniques have been studied, but none were found to be better than the highly recommended chest compressions to ventilations ratio of 15:2.
The guidelines place new emphasis on when to start and stop CPR in asystolic collapsed individuals. Cessation of resuscitation is recommended if asystole persists for at least 10 minutes after basic CPR and ACLS have been performed.
Cardiac Arrest Medications – The most controversial recommendation in the new guidelines is the addition of vasopressin and amiodarone to the ACLS response for cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Amiodarone is recommended over lidocaine in shock-refractory cases. Lidocaine remains an alternative choice. Bretylium tosylate was eliminated.
Resources – For details on the new and revised recommendations, see the following:
American Heart Association Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2000;102(suppl):11-1384.
For 14 years Rose Clifford, RN, CLNC has been an expert independent LNC specializing in investigating Medicare billing fraud and PIP auto fraud. She owns Medical Analysis Resources, Inc. in Kentucky.
CLNC ® Q & A
How to Find RNs to Work as Subcontractors
Q.
I have moved to a new area where I don't know anyone. I'm not sure how to find subcontractors to assist me on cases.
A.
First, maintain your contacts from your previous location. You can use the same subcontractors regardless of where they live. Second, add new subcontractors to your network.
To find new subcontractors:
Use the specialty directories for the clinical fields in which you specialize.
Network with other local legal nurse consultants (LNCs). You may find LNCs in specialty areas who will subcontract with you.
Run an ad in the local newspaper's medicine/nursing employment section for RNs to assist with specific tasks, such as medical record review.
Send the local media a press release announcing your business. Mention that your business is seeking experienced RNs to help you.
Contact the local newspaper about being included in any section or article featuring new businesses or small business owners, and mention your need for RNs to assist you.
