International Nursing Consultants
This site will be about nursing schools and nursing training, especially travel nursing and also legal nurse consultants.
Nurse Consultants – What we are and what we do
Nurse consultants are registered nurses tasked with the role of evaluating, analysing, and rendering information about health care delivery and its outcomes. Nurse consultants are specialized in this area and are expected to act as leaders, coordinators, and legal advisers.
The Nurse Consultant
To give us a clearer view on the roles of a nurse consultant, here is a list of areas (medico-legal in particular) involved in this nursing profession:
· Compensation of workers
· Investigation of health care license
· Medical malpractice
· Liability for products
· Management of risks in the clinical area
· Personal injury
· Toxic Torts
It is important to note that, nurse consultants deal with medico-legal issues. Their main role revolves around analysing, evaluating, and giving relevant professional opinion on health care delivery, which of course involves the stated areas above. To better appreciate a nurse consultant's role, here is a situation that most likely needs the service of a nurse consultant: let's say a certain medical personnel mistakenly gave a wrong medication to a patient, and this medication caused injury or further disease to the patient, a nurse consultant may be asked to evaluate the situation to know who is liable for the said "mistake". In the medical field, this is called medical malpractice or negligence. Legal issues concerning medical personnel, patients and the outcome of the delivered health care to the patients is an area of concern for a nurse consultant. In this case, the nurse consultant may be asked to render a professional advice or opinion regarding the case which would help the hospital ethics board decide on what measures to take.
Most often, nurse consultants are asked to appear in court or in front of a judge or jury, explaining medical jargon, conditions, medical procedures, laboratory tests and results, etc. and why these are significant to a particular case. A nurse consultant also works hand in hand with attorneys, studying cases and health records through a "triage" method. This means that the nurse reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the case which helps determine if it has merit or not.
The Qualifications Required for Nurse Consultants
To become a nurse consultant, you must first have an active RN (Registered Nurse) license. This is a necessity and even if you are not a baccalaureate graduate or a BSN graduate, as long as you have an RN license, you can qualify. Five years of practice as a Registered Nurse is also needed. Completing a nurse consultant legal course is also a must, and this must be completed in an accredited educational institution. After completing the educational requirements, the candidate must also present evidence that he or she underwent two thousand hours of legal nurse consultant practice within the past three years. Once all of the qualifications are completed, the candidate may now apply to take the legal nurse consultant certification exam. Passing this exam would make you a certified nurse consultant, which then gives you the opportunity to legally assume the roles of a nurse consultant.
The Job Opportunities for a Nursing Consultant
Once certified as a nurse consultant, you can work in different areas; these include:
· Working with attorneys
· Working for insurance companies
· Government agencies
· Privately owned corporations
· Health care facilities
Working as a nurse consultant also has a couple of advantages. The major one is the salary, where you can earn or charge as much as $120 or $150 per hour. You can also work in your home or in your own office. Another good thing about working as a nurse consultant is that you own your time; it is up to you if you want to go full time or part time. This way you can control your working hours in such a way that you can spend more time with your family or friends. You also do not have much to worry about the demand for the job, or if opportunities will run out; this is because there are approximately 1.2 m lawyers or attorneys just in America that would need medico-legal services.
Being a nurse consultant is also a field of specialization, aside from helping patients, medical personnel, and workers with medical and legal issues. Nurse consultants also serve a vital role in the delivery of health care; they inform and educate the public on safe, quality and efficient health care.