Legal Nurse Consulting Certificate Program

Course Name

Legal Nurse Consulting Certificate Program

Contact Hours: 165 (an estimated time frame devoted to a course of study from start to finish that can vary from student to student)

Course Description

Welcome to the Legal Nurse Consultant Certificate program.  Many nurses are using their skills to practice full or part time in this area. 

This Certificate Course will prepare you to begin a career as a legal nurse consultant. This certificate course is formatted for 165 contact hours of self-paced study with mentor feedback if needed. Upon completion of the course, participants will be eligible for a Certificate of Completion in Legal Nurse Consulting. 

Communication with the course instructor is by email, telephone, fax, and/or US postal mail. Participants may utilize any one of these means to communicate.
 
The course is presented in four (4) modules (i.e. each module is outlined below, including content and reading assignments. Following the completion of each module, the participant will take an examination.

The examinations for Modules 1, 2, and 3 are objective type exams. Following the assignments for Module 4, the participant will select one case study for analysis. The participant will write up an analysis of the case according to specific instructions provided by the instructor. 

Participants are given sixteen (16) weeks to complete the program. You may study at your own pace, and can progress through the course as quickly as you like. 

Outcome

• To prepare registered nurses to enter the practice of Legal Nurse Consulting with sufficient knowledge for practice at a standard required by the employment market.
• To prepare registered nurses to practice in a variety of practice settings as a legal nurse consultant including; medical and nursing malpractice, expert witness role, toxic torts, product liability, insurance industry, law firms, health care related organizations, and as an entrepreneurial legal nurse consultant.
• To gain the knowledge and skills required to comprehensively analyze cases for attorney clients, or other types of clients.
• To learn effective report writing skills and presentation skills for analyzed cases.
• To understand and practice legal nurse consulting with regards to high ethics and adherence.
• To prepare new legal nurse consultants to increase their body of knowledge related to the practice of legal nurse consulting for personal and career growth.
• To prepare registered nurses and practicing legal nurse consultants to successfully achieve certification by examination.
• To prepare legal nurse consultants to develop their own marketing plans for career and business growth.
• To provide legal nurse consultants with a college level credential for the practice of legal nurse consulting.

Assessment

GRADING: Examinations for Modules 1, 2, and 3 are objective type exams. There are fifty (50) questions on each exam. The grading scale is: 90 - 100 % = A, 80 - 89 % = B, 70 - 79 % = C, 60 - 69 % = D. Below 60 % = F. Grading for the Module 4 examination (case analysis- written exam) is on a Pass/Fail basis.

Outline

Module I – Content

• Legal Theory
• The Law, Standards of Care, & Liability Issues
• Access to Medical Records
• Discovery & Disclosure
• Informed Consent
• Treatment Decisions
• Profession of Legal Nurse Consulting
• The History & Evolution of Legal Nurse Consulting
• Entry into Specialty Practice of Legal Nurse Consulting
• Professionalism, Standards of Practice & Professional Performance Certification
• Ethical Theory and the Practice of Legal Nurse Consulting
• Nursing Theory: Applications to Legal Nurse Consulting

• Legal Practice Areas
• Evaluating Professional Negligence Cases
• Elements of Triage
• Nursing Home Litigation
• Principles of Evaluating
• Personal Injury Cases
• Common Mechanisms of Injury
• Evaluating Product Liability Cases
• Evaluating Toxic Tort Cases
• Evaluating Forensic Cases
• ERISA & HHO Litigation
• Complex Litigation
• The LNC as a Case Manager
• Roles of the Legal Nurse Consultant
• Practice within a Law Firm
• Communication with Plaintiff Clients
• Interacting with Defense Clients Role of the LNC in the Insurance Industry
• The LNC in Health Care Risk Management
• Health Care Claims Analysis
• Defense Medical Examinations

• Responsibilities of the Legal Nurse Consultant
• Legal Writing
• Medical Record Analysis
• Literature Research
• Report Preparation
• Locating and Working with Expert Witnesses
• The Legal Nurse Consultant as Expert Witness
• The Liability Nurse Expert Witness
• The Expert Fact Witness
• The Life Care Planning Expert
• Business Principles for the Nurse Expert Witness
• Mediation, Settlement & Trial
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Preparation of Technical Demonstrative Evidence
• Trial Preparation
• The Trial Process
• Business Principles
• Starting a Business
• Successful Marketing for the LNC
• Growing a Business
• Business Practices and Ethics

• Examination ( case analysis-written exam)

Books

The text for the certificate program is: "Legal Nurse Consulting: Principles and Practice." You are required to purchase this text on your own. It can easily be purchased directly from the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants. You can phone in your order, or visit their website and print the order form for the text and mail your order in. The cost of the text book is estimated to be $ 65.00 for members of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants and $ 99.00 for non-members. A fee is added for shipping. "Legal Nurse Consulting: Principles and Practice" Edited by: Patricia W. Iyer, MSN, RN, LNCC. Bocca Raton:CRC Press;2003. American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants 4700 W. Lake Avenue Glenview, IL 60025 Phone: Toll Free: 877-402-2562 Fax: 847-375-6313 Email: info@aalnc.org Website: http://www.aalnc.org Call and order your text book as soon as possible so that you can begin your course of study. You will need the text to start your assignments.