NEWS FLASH Lawyers Weekly Educates Lawyers about Legal Nurse Consulting
When Lawyers Weekly USA called wanting to interview me because I pioneered legal nurse consulting, I was thrilled. This major national newspaper is one of my favorite publications. Attorneys pay up to $289/year to subscribe (28% of subscribers are millionaires). According to the Lawyers Weekly USA website, their subscribers referred 223,000 cases in the last 12 months. So you can see why I took the time to talk to their reporter, even though I was rushing off to the airport for a dream vacation in Africa.
Since approximately half of Lawyers Weekly USA subscribers handle medical-related cases, I knew the readership for the article, "Finding the Right Nurse for Your Firm," would be high. The story, which appeared this fall, informed attorneys that legal nurse consultants can work on a variety of cases, such as workers' comp, products liability and criminal, as well as medical malpractice. Now the thousands of attorneys who read and respect Lawyers Weekly USA know more about what legal nurse consultants can do to help them win their cases.
Remember to always educate your attorney-clients and everyone else you know about the many specialized consulting services you can provide. For a quick refresher on the 31 services CLNC®s can offer click here. Suggest to your clients how one or two of these consulting services can benefit their legal practice. Continue adding value and more services, and you'll win repeat business.
Success Is Yours!
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD
P.S.
Following the publication of this article, I sent a letter to the editor. It was published in the October 28 issue of Lawyers Weekly USA. In it I stressed, "Having worked with attorneys and legal nurse consultants for 20 years, I know that an attorney who represents a client (plaintiff or defense) on a medical-related case without the expertise of a certified legal nurse consultant is at risk for being sued for legal malpractice." This is the real message the legal community and every consumer need to understand. Please help spread this vital message to everyone you know.
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD was recently featured in the West University Examiner. In the article, "Legal Nurses Bridge Two Fields," Vickie was in "pioneer mode," educating readers about the value of nurses' knowledge and how they are making a difference in the legal community as Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantsCM (CLNC®s). The article recognized the Institute as the "oldest and largest training center in the industry."
"So many nurses think nursing didn't prepare them for having a business," Vickie said in the article, "not true." Vickie's profound belief that "Nurses Can Do Anything" is the very core of her own success. She constantly reminds nurses that they make split-second life-or-death decisions for patients. Surely they can do something as simple as explain a medical record to an attorney.
The article stressed the increased demand for CLNC®s by stating, "Demand for legal nurse services took off two decades ago with the rise in medical-related litigation, consumer health awareness and health care reform."
CLNC® SUCCESS STORY
In Just 6 Weeks, I Discovered Career Dreams Really Do Come True
by Lou Ann Alexander, RNC, CLNC
For 21 years I have been a practicing registered nurse in the field of geriatrics. I am ANCC certified in gerontological nursing, and have worked in long term care, home health, Medicare subacute and medical-surgical nursing. In addition to the usual nursing responsibilities, I have held several administrative and state committee positions.
In spite of my success in geriatric nursing, I desperately needed a change. I became interested in legal nurse consulting through a friend who had purchased the CLNC® Home-Study Certification Program. When I checked out the LegalNurse.com website for myself, it almost sounded too good to be true, but I was willing to try.
I booked myself for the next available CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar. I almost backed out at the last minute, as the seminar started just four days after the September 11th attack. I kept calling the Institute to see if the seminar had been canceled. It hadn't. Then I forced myself to fly, and thank goodness I did. My life has not been the same since!
When I left the seminar, I was motivated and psyched about the possibilities. I felt so strongly that I could be a successful CLNC® that I decided to go full-time immediately. Upon returning home, I actually resigned my position (fearfully, but happily).
To my great relief, my first contract was a long term care case, and I felt very confident since my career has been in geriatrics. The attorney was so pleased with my report, he gave me four more cases that were sitting on his desk. Since then, I have received a call from a HUGE firm that is the defense team for a major national chain of long term care (LTC) facilities. The LTC chain wants to present my curriculum vitae to their board of directors so I can consult on all their LTC cases. I continue to pick up more cases from other attorneys, both defense and plaintiff.
In my first 6 weeks as an independent CLNC® I billed more than $10,000.00. I can truly say, so far I have faced no obstacles in pursuing this dream. My only regret is that I didn't make this change years ago.
I absolutely love my work and am making great money with complete autonomy. Who could ask for more? Becoming a CLNC® has changed my life as well as my family's life, and we couldn't be happier.
Every day I thank God and Vickie Milazzo for this wonderfully new and exciting career. Dreams really do come true!
Lou Ann Alexander, RNC, SANE, CLNC is an independent Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and operates her company, Alexander & Associates, Inc. Medical-Legal Nurse Consultants, in Mississippi. Her experience includes administrative nursing in the areas of long term care, home health, Medicare subacute and medical-surgical nursing.
BEST PRACTICES FOR REPORT WRITING
New Software for Creating Chronologies and Timelines
by Pam Hollsten, RN, BSN, DABFN, CLNC
Whether you are a seasoned CLNC® or brand new to the profession, you always seek ways to increase your efficiency while delivering the highest quality work product to your attorney-clients. Software for developing chronologies and timelines can increase your efficiency in drafting client-pleasing written reports.
However, remember that computers only assist you; they will not do the work for you. Regardless of which software program you use, you still must analyze the case in order to clearly articulate the issues to the attorney.
What Software Do You Recommend for Creating Chronologies and Timelines?
Many CLNC®s use the software that comes pre-installed on most computers today, such as MS Word®, Access®, Excel® or similar applications in WordPerfect®. Other software available for purchase includes the following:
CaseSoft (www.casesoft.com) has several software programs CLNC®s may find useful.
CaseMap is a spreadsheet program that assists in organizing facts, issues, people and information. This litigation tool tracks facts and helps the attorney develop, strategize and identify the weaknesses and strengths of cases.
TimeMap creates timeline charts as you enter data into text boxes. This unique program simplifies the process by eliminating the need to reformat and move text around as more information is added. TimeMap creates both visual timelines and graphs of information, dates and events.
The popular medical-legal case review software, LegalMedWare (www.legalmedware.com), offers a legal nurse consultant edition. LegalMedWare features the ability to create a chronology, extract important case information, and look up and define terms, medications and laboratory values. The latest version also contains Internet links for medical references. They also offer a subscription service to remind you of updates, sales, promotional offers, new products and technical support features.
What Are the Advantages of Specialized Software?
Using specialized software increases your efficiency, saving you the time it would take to reformat or create a report template or chronology outline with each new report. A key feature of such software is that you only enter the information once; then you can easily sort or organize by date, time, provider or clinical event. This is a definite time-saver when organizing large volumes of data.
These programs may offer other useful features, such as medical terminology and abbreviations, laboratory and medication references, links to online databases, illustrations and graphics, and the option of choosing different formats for important components of a comprehensive report.
With basic computer skills you may find these programs useful for creating professional-looking work product. While it will take time to learn the software, these products can guide you in developing the basic chronology format and typical components of a chronology or report.
Buyer Beware
One unique feature that distinguishes you from another CLNC® is the quality, content and appearance of your work product. Using one of these software programs exclusively will limit your choices of report format. Some attorneys may perceive reports prepared this way as "canned." You could lose an important marketing and business-building advantage by relying on one program exclusively. CLNC® Pros use these programs only on select cases or when organizing large volumes of material takes priority over analyzing the content.
No software will analyze the case facts. To produce client-pleasing reports, you must analyze the content of the records, identify applicable Standards of Care, and know when and how to apply these standards in writing to the specific case. Additionally, it is up to you to ensure the definitions, terminology and data included in these software programs are accurate, up to date, and most importantly, applicable to the case.
Try Before You Buy
Several software programs are available to test drive online or you can download a demonstration version. When you consider the initial cost of the program, keep in mind that many vendors have excellent customer service support and email subscription services to alert you to updates, sales, new products and features.
To make the most informed choice about which program best suits your budget and your needs, we recommend you try the online demonstrations before deciding to buy. Happy computing!
Pam Hollsten, RN, BSN, DABFN, CLNC, an independent CLNC® in Virginia, owns Hollsten & Associates, specializing in medical malpractice. Pam will lead the report writing workshop at the 2003 NACLNC® Conference.
