by Elizabeth Rudolph | Nov 16, 2021 | Evaluating Cases, Legal Nurse Consulting
I want to make a difference. I want to help others. These are reasons we often tell ourselves why we go into nursing. These are the exact same reasons to become a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC). You take your nursing skills, combine them with the legal skills you’ll learn in your PLNC Certification Course, and viola, you are ready to make a difference and help others!
How, you ask, can a PLNC make a difference and help others? The answer is simple: review medical records and give your opinion.
Your nursing opinions counts. Your nursing experience counts. When you put together your nursing experience with acquired legal know-how, you instantly have the credibility you need to be successful as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC).
Let’s break this down in pieces.
You become a nurse. You work as a nurse. No set number of years or practice areas matter. It just matters that you’re a nurse and have worked as one.
Gnawing at you may be your desire to help. To do something that matters in this world. That was this one nurse’s reason to get PLNC certified.
This nurse, let’s call her, Abby, loved to watch courtroom dramas on TV. Abby envisioned herself as a nurse but her long-term dream was to be a lawyer. While she didn’t want to go through the rigors of further schooling, she wanted to do more with her nursing degree. Abby was struggling to pay her bills yet wanted to make her mark in life. She asked herself how she could do it being a nurse? She had to go on in her schooling, even if the going was going to be tough.
Bit by bit, step by baby step, Abby pressed on. She did an internet search, asked around, and found the legal nurse consultant program that fit her needs. One that was thorough, affordable, and able to be completed 100% online. One that had an unlimited mentoring program. One that was recognized in the field as the preeminent Professional Legal Nurse Consultant program.
Abby selected Jurex Center for Legal Nurse Consultants and never looked back. In two days, she completed the online PLNC Certification Course and immediately added the PLNC credential to her signature. She framed her beautiful PLNC Certification certificate and hung it on her bedroom wall. She was proud. She was happy. She did it.
Now, she wanted to review medical records for others. Abby hooked up with a Plaintiffs’ law firm in her town and reviewed her first medical record. Got paid. Reviewed her second medical record. Got paid. And on and on it went.
Looking back now as a successful Professional Legal Nurse Consultant, Abby is so happy she did it one step at a time. She attained success. She pressed forward even when she doubted herself.
Abby accomplished her goal to make a difference and to help others. Interestingly, it’s still her goal as she continues on her beautiful journey.
P.S. How can you make a difference in the lives of others?
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Apr 20, 2021 | Evaluating Cases
Professional Legal Nurse Consultants share five documentation problems that often appear in almost every medical record. As a certified Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC), it’s essential to comb through the medical record for problems and identify them. After reviewing tons of charts, PLNCs have found common threads you should know when you’re reviewing medical records.
Instead of sifting through the electronic health records (EHR) by starting from scratch each time, why not simply have a checklist you can use to make your merit review easy? Look no further.
We interviewed Professional Legal Nurse Consultants and below they reveal five documentation problems you should look for in your medical record reviews. They each said there are common themes that you can spot throughout. And, the more EHR’s you look at, the easier it comes.
- Expect the medical record to be disorganized. The first thing you should do as a PLNC, is to organize the medical record into sections. You can’t help but look at the charting as you’re doing this, so consider this a “once through”. When you go to really read the chart, you’ll already have an idea of what’s going on.
- Almost all charts have missing documents. Don’t panic. Make a list of “Missing Documents” including those you’d expect should be in the chart. Even if the facility does not have such a document, at least you’ve identified it.
- Check the timing of the entries. Don’t be surprised to find that the health care provider documented “ahead of time”, meaning the task was performed in advance of doing it.
- Look for abnormal findings. You need to know what’s “within normal limits” to know if this patient’s findings actually fall within those. A blanket statement that the patient is within defined limits does not necessarily mean that is so. For example, keep a list of the ranges of lab values you’ll commonly encounter.
- Find where patient complaints have been communicated to the health care providers. Often, patient’s complaints are in the medical record but there’s indication whether or not those complaints have actually been communicated to the patient’s nurse practitioner, physician, or other health care provider. Merely documenting them may not be enough to absolve the individual who documented it of liability.
While there are different kinds of charting software out there, PLNCs found that there are common threads among all documentation software programs. They’ve said repeatedly, when you encounter a new chart, expect your nursing knowledge of charting to come in handy.
You’ve seen all kinds of charting in your nursing career. Know that your experience can be a confidence booster!
Whether you’re reviewing medical records in case about a fall, malnutrition, medication adverse reaction, or practically anything else, know that these five problems rear their heads repeatedly. No sense “reinventing the wheel” when others in the same field will tell you what you’ll likely encounter.
As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant, you can tackle any medical record you undertake to review. Other PLNCs who have come before you have seen it, have done it, and they’re doing it. Take comfort in the fact that as a PLNC, you’re competent to handle it.
P.S. Tell us what common documentation problems you find.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jan 28, 2021 | Evaluating Cases, Legal Nurse Consulting
What’s a typical day like for a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC)? Whether you work part-time or full-time as a PLNC or something in between, when you’re reviewing medical records, the time you spend doing it will look the same.
Wake up after a restful and restorative sleep. (Hopefully, you can put your mind at ease and let sleep overtake you no matter what you’ve done during the day).
Typical Day in the Life of a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant:
Eat a good breakfast. Exercise. Thirty minutes of cardio preferably, and 15 minutes of circuit training.
Shower. Maybe consider a bath instead. Baths tend to be more relaxing. (Not scientific proof, but anecdoctal).
Gather all medical records. If they’re in hard copy, put all documents from same facility or practice group in one pile. Separate them by admission date.
For example, if there’re three admissions to the hospital, you’ll likely have three stacks of papers separated by admission dates.
Next, you’ll break down each admission by sections. For example, Nurses’ Notes, Progress Notes’, Medication Administration Record.
Now that they’re all separated, READ the pages. Make your own notes in a separate document knowing that if you testify about these, you’ll need to produce your notes. But, most PLNCs opt not to testify, so generating notes is usually not a problem.
Chronology? Consider creating a timeline also known as a chronology, to help you sift through the medical records.
Hey, don’t forget to keep track of your time. You’re getting PAID by the hour, so you need to record your time.
Take a break. Stretch.
Back to it. Now it’s time to write/type up your report.
“KISS”: Keep it Simple, Sweetheart. Don’t make your report so involved that it’s hard to sift through it. Use your chronology for all the details. Use your report for the important stuff.
Do a rough draft. Take another break.
Remember the expression, “Measure twice, but once”. This means go back over your report at least a couple of times before you send it to the attorney.
Take another break AFTER you’ve reviewed your report and BEFORE you send it the report to your attorney.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART IS…
Type up your INVOICE so you’ll get PAID!
Look over your report again. Create an email that says you’re attaching your report AND your Invoice! Let your attorney know you appreciate the opportunity to review the medical records.
ASK how the attorney would like to get the medical records returned to them. Whether you received them in hard copy or you printed them out, get this question answered.
Go have fun! You’re done for the day.
DON’T FORGET to keep track of your payment. Didn’t receive payment within a week? Send a friendly reminder with another copy of your invoice.
Last acronym: TNSTAAFL. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”. If you hired an attorney, the attorney would bill you for the time. Be sure you bill for your time. TNSTAAFL.
P.S. Pass this link on to your nurse friends here.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jul 21, 2020 | Evaluating Cases
One of the most vital components of good nursing care is proper documentation. As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) reviewing nursing records, your job is to thoroughly check all documentation. You know as a nurse that this practice of completely recording each interaction with your patients is made even more important when you consider the possibility of legal action against you.
Nurses need to know this: The first thing a patient considering a lawsuit will do is request their medical records, including any and all charts and documents you created.
Patients will, of course, be searching for errors. These records are of great consequence in the legal process.
Knowing that patients will get the medical records should be motivation enough to make the records thorough and detailed. Remember, anything you write could be read in court. When you make notes, think in the back of your mind that a judge or jury might both hear and see them.
Here’s your Nursing Checklist to an Effective Paper or Electronic Trail:
- Don’t leave anything blank that should’ve been completed
- Complete all required forms
- Chart thoroughly
- Log out so no one can chart for you
We all learned in nursing school “if it’s not documented, it’s not done”. Professional Legal Nurse Consultants know this. Jurors are drilled with this adage also. Make sure YOU follow this wisdom.
P.S. Comments below about what documentation steps you always follow.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Dec 6, 2016 | Evaluating Cases
No more guesswork as to what you need to put into a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant medical record report. Follow the step-by-step formula contained in the book How To Write A Professional Medical Expert Report. Here, you will be shown exactly what goes into the report. And, sample reports are provided.
Now that you have decided to take this short course, you will be more confident about your nursing ability to review medical records thoroughly AND write a convincing medical record review. No need to be concerned that you do not know how to write a legal nurse consultant report for each attorney. Use the reports contained in The Expert Report Writing Course to streamline your report. Reduce your learning curve and cut right to the chase.
Once you feel even slightly more confident in your legal nurse consultant report writing skills, you will be able to take your PLNC practice to the next level. What is that level, you might ask? Having more and more medical records to review.
We want to help you in any way we can, so we reduced the price of The Expert Report Writing Course to only $199 (Reg. $399) for a limited time. Register here.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jun 11, 2014 | Evaluating Cases
- Case Name
- Handling Attorney
- Date Opened
- Address/Phone/Email
- Opposing Counsel/Parties and Address/Phone/Email
- Description of Case
- Date of Injury/Death
- Court/Docket No.
- Complaint Filed
- Statute of Limitation
- Court Date
- Notes
Now, your life is simplified and you can focus on other aspects. Just be sure to keep your screening forms up-do-date.
