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What is a Legal Nurse Consultant? A Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) is a registered nurse who uses their medical training and experience to assist attorneys in preparing the healthcare issues in their cases. According to the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC), the primary role of the LNC "is to evaluate, analyze, and render informed opinions on the delivery of healthcare and the resulting outcomes." Why use the services of Island Legal Nurse Consulting at all? Island Legal Nurse Consulting should be one of the first professionals an attorney consults when there are healthcare issues in a case. While Island Legal Nurse Consulting develops the healthcare issues in the case, the legal staff can devote its time and resources to the legal issues in the case. Traditionally, attorneys use paralegals to summarize and organize medical records, and physicians to consult on healthcare issues. Obtaining these services first from Island Legal Nurse Consulting will save time, will be more cost effective, and will lead to a more thorough and complete review of the merits of a case. Why use Island Legal Nurse Consulting for Medical Issues RATHER than a Paralegal? Paralegals are trained in the legal aspects of a case while Island Legal Nurse Consulting is trained to look at the healthcare aspects of a case from an insider’s point of view. Island Legal Nurse Consulting has a proven medical background with sixteen years of nursing experience. We know how to both read and analyze medical records. Island Legal Nurse Consulting knows exactly what should be included in the medical record. We can more easily decipher and interpret physicians’ and nurses’ notes. Most important, we will highlight what may be missing from medical records based on our experience and training–something that non-medically trained personnel reviewing the records will miss. When it comes to organizing, summarizing, and interpreting medical records, Island Legal Nurse Consulting will conduct a more thorough medical record review, and will spot issues that a paralegal without a medical background will not. While paralegals are an invaluable resource, their lack of medical training, experience in healthcare delivery systems, and unfamiliarity with hospital protocols and procedures may cause them to miss subtle clues in charts that could adversely affect the attorney’s case. Island Legal Nurse Consulting translates the medical record into "plain English" so that it can be better understood by non-medically trained individuals. Island Legal Nurse Consulting can better assist the attorney by informing them of the strengths and weaknesses of their case from a medical perspective–something a paralegal is not trained to do. In sum, all of the services Island Legal Nurse Consulting provides are focused on better assisting the attorney in zealously representing their client when there are healthcare issues in a case. Why use Island Legal Nurse Consulting BEFORE a Physician? Legal Nurse Consultants are not a substitute for a physician. They serve as a bridge between the attorney and the physician expert. Island Legal Nurse Consulting can afford to spend more time than a physician can in "educating" an attorney about the healthcare issues in a case. We also do so at a fraction of the cost of a physician. Island Legal Nurse Consulting removes the burden from the attorney of organizing and summarizing voluminous medical records. Physicians generally only look at physicians’ notes, lab data, and procedural reports. Nurses are trained to read each and every page of a medical record. We spot the medical issues and condense the pertinent information contained within the records into a number of different "work products" for both the attorney and a physician expert’s review. Island Legal Nurse Consulting records review acts as a cost effective "sieve" through which an attorney can make a more informed decision about the procedural posture and merits of a case. The different "work products" produced by Island Legal Nurse Consulting reduces the time demands and costs associated with an initial review performed by a highly paid physician expert. Snapshot of some of the Services that Island Legal Nurse Consulting can provide:
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