Have you been considering going into the nursing profession but you’re not sure if you only want to do rounds as a nurse in a hospital? If so, the good news is that there are all kinds of things that you can do in the industry. You can teach, you can be certified registered nurse anesthetist or you can go back to school to become a legal nurse consultant.

If that’s not a particular profession that you are familiar with but you’d like to know a bit more about what a legal consultant does, we’ve enclosed some details about the profession below:

What a Legal Nurse Consultant Does

What a legal nurse consultant does is provide attorneys with the medical information that they need to know as it directly relates to medically-related court cases. Although a legal nurse consultant’s responsibilities vary based on the case they are working on, their daily duties oftentimes consist of offering medical advice, reviewing cases, preparing charts and other documents, coordinating medical exams, finding expert witnesses, researching depositions, and offering insights that will help attorneys to approach their cases from a well-educated place. In short, they are like the bridge between the legal system and healthcare system and without them, many law firms would have a very challenging time dealing with things like health insurance cases and malpractice suits.

What You Need to Become a Legal Nurse Consultant

In order to become a legal nurse consultant, the first thing that you must do is earn a nursing degree. Once you have graduated from a nursing program and you’ve earned your certification to become an RN (Registered Nurse) by passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses test, you then should work at a hospital or in a doctor’s office for a period of at least three years. After you’ve gotten a significant amount of experience as a nurse, it is recommended that you take some training courses that are offered through the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants. Although this is not required to become a legal nurse consultant, being that it is such a highly competitive field, it is recommended that you consider taking this additional step. (It’s important to keep in mind that if you do decide to take the classes, you will need to have worked as a nurse for five years). You’ll then be ready to take a test that will qualify you to be a certified legal nurse consultant so that you can start looking for work within the profession. (Also take note that it’s a very lucrative job being that pays as much as $150 per hour as a starting salary.)

Resources for Becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant

If this sounds like something that you would like to learn more about and you are not a nurse, you might want to consider starting out as a nurse assistant. If this is the route you’d like to take, you can read more about the requirements for becoming one at CNAOnlinePrograms.net. However, if you would prefer to immediately enroll into college and get a four year degree and you’d like more information on how to become a legal nurse consultant following graduation, visit the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants at AALNC.org or LegalNurse.com.