Finding A Legal Nurse Job

Being a legal nurse consultant (LNC) is one of the more exciting and financially-rewarding career options for a registered nurse (RN). The job is a merry mix of law and medicine and the required qualifications are not difficult to meet. To qualify for the job, a valid RN license and a continuing education degree or a certification in laws related to the medical field are required. An alternate route is for an RN to first get qualified as a paralegal to meet the certification requirements for an LNC job.
Specific Duties

*When employed in a hospital, an LNC works on medico-legal cases while still performing regular nursing tasks. Consultancy work may involve review of medical records, doing research on medical situations with legal implications, doing investigative work on medical malpractice cases, and evaluation of care standards in insurance claims or law suits filed against the hospital.

*When working for a lawyer or a legal firm, a legal nurse consultant provides inputs on medico-legal cases. Likewise, an LNC may be tasked to take depositions from witnesses on cases with medical concerns, to give expert opinions or testimonies, and to help find appropriate experts to act as medical witnesses on specific cases.

*When under the employ of an insurance company, a private health care facility or a government entity, a nurse may be assigned to do various research and liaising tasks related to his field of specialization.

Job Prospects

Currently, there is a huge demand for legal nursing consultants in the market and it is expected to rise even more in the coming years. With the escalating debates on health care reforms, an LNC's role becomes even more crucial.

According to reports issued by the American Bar Association (ABA), about 25% of all legal cases filed emanate from personal injuries, health care facilities or the apparent lack thereof, class actions, medical malpractice and negligence issues. This is practically an assurance of the abundance of jobs available for the legal nursing consultant.

Where to Look for Jobs

In the internet, there are lots of postings for job openings from big hospitals, health care facilities, legal firms and insurance companies. You can either do it on your own or you can enlist the services of headhunters or recruitment agencies to do the job hunting for you. They have access to many of these job postings and they can facilitate the application process and your transition from a staff nurse to a legal nurse consultant.