There are various interpretations regarding the professional profile of a Legal Nurse Consultant but the most accurate description would be a professional who is essentially a registered nurse (RN) who has taken upon a paralegal profile. This is why Legal Nurse Consultants are recruited by attorneys who find their clientele presenting cases related to the medical, medico-legal and the medical insurance segment. In order to handle such lawsuits, legal firms prefer having Legal Nurse Consultants working in coordination with their general paralegal staff. Thus, Legal Nurse Consultant is also called a Legal Nurse Assistant. Using the term, ?Legal Nurse Assistant? is more appropriate. Please understand that white most paralegals in a legal firm are employed on a permanent basis, Legal Nurse Assistants are more likely to be retained on a part-time or freelance or consultation basis.
This means that a contracted Legal Nurse Assistant is called upon by a legal firm only when a case that seems to engage the kind of medical knowledge expertise held by a registered nurse rises. It is a norm to see that Legal Nurse Assistants work on a case-by-case basis. Here, they are required to review medical records, apart from procuring patient data that is sometimes found across multiple clinical settings. They might also be required to interview the patients apart from evaluating the kind of treatment that was offered to them. It is rare to find a Legal Nurse Assistant being employed in an in-house or full-time basis though the bigger attorneys are quite likely to break this norm.
The most common example of Legal Nurse Assistants being retained on a full time basis is among legal firms handling personal injury or patient liability cases. Other areas of litigation wherein Legal Nurse Assistants are usually sought after include medical malpractice cases, auto accidents and those related to workers? compensation.
Major Responsibilities of a Legal Nurse Assistant Include:
- Organizing Medical Data?Legal Nurse Assistants are supposed to be experts in handling medical records that includes preparing, indexing and retrieving patient medical notes. This is why Legal Nurse Assistants should be well-versed with the latest of patient healthcare softwares. They should know how to procure the oldest of recorded patient data and link this with the present status of the patient to create an arguable point for the attorney. Most of the consulting Legal Nurse Assistants are brought-in at the time of screening the case. Here, the role of the LNC is that of a consultant in the capacity of assessing whether the case is worthy of being accepted. This is why LNCs are considered specialists in patient screening.
- Interpreting Medical Data/Notes?most attorneys struggle with understanding what medical notes are pointing towards, particularly when the records contain abbreviations or technical terms used by a healthcare practitioner. A nursing consultant can easily translate the patient notes. LNCs are regarded as medical experts when depositions have to be prepared.
- Researching Patient Records?most of the Legal Nurse Assistant profiles tend to cover missing information or the kind of information that has been over-sighted by the attorneys. These are essentially bits of medical data that can make a deep impact on the interpretation of the case. It is the role of the legal nursing consultant to tell the attorney which records should be retrieved and which should be marked for follow-ups.
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