Become a Nursing Consultant

Nursing consultants play an important role during legal cases by using their expertise and professional knowledge to advise attorneys and businesses. In order to become a nursing consultant, you must have the proper education, obtain a Legal Nurse Consultant Certificate, and master the skills necessary to the job before deciding which field to specialize in.

Steps

Obtaining the Necessary Education and Training

1. Obtain an Associate of Science Degree in Nursing. Before becoming a nursing consultant it is necessary to have a specialized educational background. Nursing consultants are required to at least have an Associate of Science Degree in Nursing, which is a two year program. This means a high school education, or a GED, is necessary as well.
   • An Associate of Science Degree in Nursing is a good route to take if you are trying to expedite the education process, as it is a shorter program than other diplomas.
   • You can receive your nursing diploma through a hospital or the military to expedite the process even further.
2. Receive a Bachelor of Science Nursing degree if you have more time. A Bachelor of Science Nursing diploma will take four years to receive and will provide you with more knowledge, as you will spend two more years becoming educated. Although this degree is not mandatory, it will better prepare you for your career as a nursing consultant in the long run.
   • Applying for financial aid is a great way to get through this education process without retaining too much debt.
   • Many nursing consultants are specialists and receive their Master of Science Nursing degree after their undergraduate degree.
3. Become licensed as a registered nurse. In order to become a practicing nurse, and a nurse consultant later on, you must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX RN). Because licensed nurses are the only competent professionals able to address nursing practices, becoming registered as a nurse is an essential step. You can apply for registration here: https://www.ncsbn.org/nclex-application-and-registration.htm.
   • Follow these steps to passing the Pass the NCLEX exam.
   • There are many training courses for this exam that you can find near you by visiting https://www.legalstudies.com/course/legal-nurse-consultant-training-course/.
   • Once this license is obtained, you must renew it every five years.
4. Practice as a nurse for a minimum of five years. As a nursing consultant, you must be an expert in the field, ready to use your knowledge in legal matters, so having clinical experience as a registered nurse is essential. Spend five years in the field to obtain the necessary amount of experience and expertise before beginning your career as a consultant.
   • Because many legal cases take place in the critical care field, it is recommended to have a broad background in the medical-surgical or critical care/trauma fields. This will provide you an expertise that will allow you to critically analyze a wide variety of medical legal cases.
5. Obtain your Legal Nurse Consultant Certificate. This certificate is obtained through an examination that is administered by the American Legal Nurse Consultant Certification Board and is considered the gold standard in the industry of nurse consulting. There are specific criteria that you must have before taking the exam and you have to meet the same rigorous standards as clinical nursing certification programs.
   • In order to take the exam, you must have a full and unrestricted nursing license at the time of your application.
   • You must have five years of experience as a registered nurse by the time you apply.
   • You also have to have evidence of 2,000 hours of legal nurse consulting experience within three years of your application.

Developing the Necessary Skills

1. Become an articulate communicator. As a registered nurse, you will develop strong interpersonal and communication skills. However, once you begin a career as a nursing consultant, these skills will have to be sharpened. As you will be consulting attorneys or businesses on legal manners, you must strengthen your skills and become extremely good at communicating your opinions efficiently and effectively.
   • During your clinical training, observe how other nursing consultants communicate and adapt the techniques you find most effective.
   • If you plan to practice independently, you must also be able to communicate your business to the public and be a skilled marketer.
2. Master the art of organizing and analyzing information. While working on a case, whether it be malpractice or personal injury, a nursing consultant must be able to organize and analyze massive amounts of information, including medical records and litigation materials. Being detail-oriented and being able to consolidate information allows nursing consultants to make objective, fact-based consultations.
   • You will need to prepare some research on your own as a nursing consultant, including preparing chronologies of healthcare events and comparing them to the allegations relevant to a case, conducting client interviews, and conducting literature searches and summaries.
   • Clients will expect consistency in your work, so preparing systems of organization will be necessary in handling the massive amounts of information being processed in each case.
3. Make objectivity a top priority. After consolidating and analyzing a case’s relevant information, a nursing consultant must be able and willing to leave their biases and opinions out of a case. Objectivity is vital skill in the field of consulting, and monitoring your own perceptions of a case will allow you to see the facts, rather than be powered by your emotions.
   • By practicing in the field for years, a nursing consultant will allow their expertise and knowledge to drive their decision making process while consulting, not their own biases.
4. Focus on becoming a strong networker. Nursing consultants act as liaisons between health care professionals, attorneys, and clients. It is vital to network within both the healthcare field and the legal field in order to connect the two adequately. Focusing on making strong, trustworthy connections is an important aspect of being a consultant.
   • While practicing as a registered nurse, make strong, long-lasting connections with other people in the field. These connections will become necessary once you become a consultant.
5. Act as a strong and confident advisor. As a nursing consultant, you must use your expertise in the field to provide confident, bold advising during a case. Whether you are working independently or for a firm, providing your objective outlook on a case with conviction will be an important skill to have and will come with adequate experience.

Deciding Where to Work

1. Practice independently as a nurse consultant. There are many paths when deciding where to work as a nursing consultant, but it is common for nursing consultants to begin their own independent practice part time while continuing their clinical practice. An independent practice will provide you with a flexible schedule and, as your practice grows, you can start to focus and orient your independent practice into a full time career.
   • This is a good avenue for a self-motivated nursing consultant with the financial resources and business sense necessary to run their own business.
   • Nursing consultants working independently will have to pay for their own overhead costs that are associated with starting a small business.
2. Provide expertise for a law firm. Working as a nursing consultant for a law firm will often be a full time position and will consist of assisting attorneys in cases involving health care and medical issues, such as malpractice. Common practices within law firms include summarizing medical records, conducting medical literature searches, and locating and communicating with expert witnesses.
3. Work within an insurance firm. Accident, life, and health insurance companies will often hire nursing consultants to serve as case managers. The duties of nursing consultants within an insurance firm differ greatly from the duties necessary in independent practices and law firms. Rather than doing consultant work on legal cases, you will often work for accident, life, and health insurance companies as a case manager, a utilization review specialists, a medical bill auditor, or as a policy development coordinator and claims adjuster.
4. Go to work for the government or a corporation. Less common nursing consultant settings include governmental agencies, federal or state patient safety organizations, and business and industry settings. All of these paths will vary in terms of work provided and pay, but are all valid work settings for nursing consultants.
   • To find out more about which field you should go into, visit http://www.aalnc.org.
5. Take your expertise into the healthcare field. By working within healthcare systems, hospital, ambulatory care centers and clinics, you will review medical records, conduct patient and employee interviews, prepare reports pertaining to adverse patient outcomes, and participate in meetings regarding the facility’s liability exposure. Many healthcare risk management programs in hospitals will hire nurse consultants to assist them in legal matters.
   • Nurse consultants that work within healthcare facilities may also work in the area of corporate compliance. This work ensures the facility complies with various state and federal standards.

References

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