by Elizabeth Rudolph | Mar 4, 2013 | Legal Nurse Consulting
I am a nurse and an attorney. I provide lots of presentations on legal issues in nursing. Throughout the years, I have provided well over a thousand presentations to nurses, nursing faculty, nursing students, nurse managers, nurse administrators and all kinds of health care providers on legal issues they face. I am frequently asked to impart all kinds of wisdom. Here are a few lessons I have learned:
1. Expand your nursing skills. You cannot be content to graduate from nursing school. You must continually increase your skill set. Remember this expression: “Always stay marketable”.
2. Stay relevant. This means stay current in your field. Whether you’re a clinician or academician, you need to stay on the cutting-edge.
3. Education is your key to success. The more education you have, the more relevant you become and the more employable you are.
Remember these lessons and they will serve you in good stead. These are my lessons learned.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Feb 9, 2013 | Legal Nurse Consulting
You’re certified now as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant, but you want work and you want it now. What opportunities are out there for you? Where should you look? How can attorneys find you? These are the questions you want answered.
No matter what the economy does, people will always sue each other. This mean there will be lawsuits and medical records to be reviewed. That’s great news for a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant, since you’re paid handsomely to review medical records.
Start with these job tools:
- The Jurex Expert Directory. Get your profile listing on it. Don’t delay. Do it now! (www.jurexnurse.com).
- Subscribe to Google Alerts and enter your keywords. For example, type in Legal Nurse Consultant jobs, Professional Legal Nurse Consultant jobs, nurse expert witness jobs, etc. The more keywords you enter, the greater your results will be.
- Go directly to job websites. Try nurse.com, nursinglink.com, advance, simplyhired. Check these websites regularly.
There are lots of job resources for legal nurse consultants. Try one, or several, just take a step and you’ll see the opportunities unfold.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jan 15, 2013 | Legal Nurse Consulting, Legal Terminology
I was providing the presentation for nursing students at Baptist College for Health Sciences and I asked the question: What is the difference between negligence and malpractice? The room initially went silent, then one attendee stated that it had to do with negligence (yes, it does) and another said it was committed by professionals (yes, this is true). When you combine these two definitions, it gives you the actual definition. Negligence committed by a professional is considered malpractice.
So, what is negligence? Simply put, it’s the failure to do something you should’ve done or doing something you should not have done. It’s the sin of commission or the sin of omission.
When you’re busy taking care of patients, it often becomes easy to take short cuts. It’s not until something goes awry that you “wake up and smell the coffee”. Hopefully, that’s not too late.
The best practice is to figure out what negligence is beforehand and do all you can to avoid it. There are lots of options out there to help you. Consider these resources:
- Nurse Practice Act
- Current Nursing Textbooks
- Recent Nursing Journals
Just remember, as a nurse, you owe a higher standard of care to the patient than that of a nonprofessional. So, be prepared.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jan 4, 2013 | Evaluating Cases, Legal Nurse Consulting
Whether you’re in Denver or Orlando or any point between, medical malpractice can occur. Everyday medical conditions can take a turn for the worse with resulting bad outcomes. Consider this case*…
A thirty-six year old went to the Emergency Department of a Denver hospital with complaints of sever neck pain and numbness in his arms and legs. The doctor diagnosed this as neck strain and discharged him. Apparently, the patient had a herniated disk with spinal cord compression causing neurologic injury. Within hours of arriving home, the patient became paralyzed.
The result?
The jury returned the largest medical malpractice verdict on record in Colorado, however the hospital had previously settled leaving just the ER physician.
Think about your role as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant. If you opted to review these medical records, you would need lots of records including hospital, prior doctor health care providers, ambulance and subsequent records. Remember, there are two sides to every story and your job is to consider that.
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Jan 1, 2013 | Legal Nurse Consulting
It’s the new year and you can start fresh. No more holding onto old ideas about what you should’ve done, but didn’t. Your nursing career is important and what you make of it is in your hands.
Whether you’re already a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) or thinking about becoming one, this is your time, your day, your life. Here are three resolutions and what you can specifically do to implement them now:
Your Three New Years Resolutions:
- I will not procrastinate. Start each day with a three items you will complete by the end of the day. No need to write them down unless you want to. Keep them in your head.
- I will look for opportunities to improve. No more doing the same thing and expecting different results. You must make a change, no matter how small.
- I will enhance my skills. Lifelong learning is important because it keeps you marketable. In an ever-changing workplace, you must stay ahead of the curve. The more skills you bring to the table, the more secure you will be.
Decide today that you will no longer procrastinate, you will look for opportunities to improve and you will enhance your skills. This way, you will become the new you!
by Elizabeth Rudolph | Dec 24, 2012 | Legal Nurse Consulting
We listened to you. We updated the Jurexnurse.com website. We tried to keep the navigation as similar to the old website as possible, but we added new images, content and selections. We hope you like it. Please comment below.
The blog will have twice weekly posts with cutting-edge info. The blog topics will include:
- How to market your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant business
- Roundup of valuable resources
- Case law updates
- Interviews with attorneys
- PLNC success stories
- New videos to increase traffic to your PLNC practice
- Q & A
- Social media tips
- Anatomy of a lawsuit
- PLNC services to include in your business
- And more…
Be sure you get the FREE e-Book download. You’ll also want to subscribe the RSS feed so you’re one of the first to get the new blog post.
Thank you for reading. We sincerely hope you’ll enjoy frequently visiting the Jurexnurse.com blog!
