If I became a legal nurse consultant, could I actually find jobs?

July 5, 2010 by nurse
Filed under: Articles, Q&A 

Available Legal Nurse Consultant JobsLet me start by saying that I wouldn’t be starting in this career completely brand new to nursing. I have personally been an RN for over 9 years now and I have been looking closely at the legal nurse consultant career niche. What keeps me from making the jump is wondering if I would really be able to find jobs / work as a legal nurse consultant.

I have almost been convinced by the schools offering cheap LNC certification programs but it makes me wonder if they are really just trying to make a face book selling an LNC Certification. Are these programs providing education to nurses that will then be able to find work or is this a pipe dream career niche?

ANSWER:

The quickest answer I can provide you is without a doubt you can find work in the legal nurse consulting field. Registered Nurses are paid by medical malpractice lawyers on a very consistent basis to back up their cases in court as expert witnesses. The more you do it, the more you will get work. As you build up the experience in court and prove to attorneys that you can help as an expert witness and help their case you will become known as a resource in your local area as a legal nurse consultant.

Another interesting direction that a legal nurse consultant can take is to target and help out works comp insurers. In the workers compensation niche you can almost find more stable work as a full time medical case manager. I have seen many registered nurses go from working in a hospital to being a full time staff member of a major works compensation insurance company.

The best nursing fields of interest for getting LNC work is in the obstetric field and all surgical specialties. You will notice that these types of nurses will get asked more often to be be expert witnesses in court cases.

Advertise LNC in Attorney At LawThere are multiple ways to get more work in this field. One way is to place classifieds and display ads inside of legal periodicals and publications that go directly to your local attorneys. It’s best to save a swipe file of competing legal nurse consultants so that you can model your ads around theirs. In addition to advertising your services you can sign on with agencies that specializing in filling expert witness positions in court cases. You can get put on a list under a number of nursing specialties with these agencies and be contacted when there is work for you. A good conversation with expert witness agencies also can provide you good insight into what specialties and demands there are in your area with legal nurse consulting needs.

This answer and information above came from a medical malpractice litigation paralegal with decades and decades of experience. Solid information!

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Comments

One Comment on If I became a legal nurse consultant, could I actually find jobs?

  1. Carolyn on Wed, 29th Sep 2010 3:19 am

    2. I actually went through a LNC course and find that it was a complete waste of time. I tried to no avail to gain employment by sending dozens and dozens of mailings out to attorneys with my CV and business card.

    I am finding now that geography plays a huge role in whether or not you can find work as an LNC. It seems quite popular in the South, but I am just outside of Boston and the well appears to be dry up here.

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