Assignment: Legal Nurse Consultant

Assignment: Legal Nurse Consultant

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Week 4 Article Summary and Review Essay Choose one of the articles below, and address the essay prompt associated with it. You will need to log in to the WCU library to access the full article. Park, M. (2009). Ethical issues in nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Law, 13(3), 68-77. doi:10.1891/1073-7472.13.3.68 Link: Ethical issues in nursing practice Essay Prompt: Identify primary areas for legal and ethical issues faced by oncology nurses in this study (Park, 2009), and strategies they may have developed to work with those ethical issues. Or, Croke, E. (2006). Nursing malpractice: determining liability elements for negligent acts. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting, 17(3), 3. Link: Nursing malpractice: determining liability elements for negligent acts Essay Prompt: Identify primary problems that led to the malpractice suits (Croke, 2006), and identify the role the nurse played and what the nurse did wrong. Your 1-2 page paper should include adhere to APA formatting and references/ citations for the article. Additional sources are optional. Review the rubric for further information on how your assignment will be graded.

A legal nurse consultant is a registered nurse who uses expertise as a health care provider and specialized training to consult on medical-related legal cases. Legal nurse consultants assist attorneys in reading medical records and understanding medical terminology and healthcare issues to achieve the best results for their clients.[1] The specialty is a relatively recent one, beginning in the mid-1980s.[2]

A legal nurse consultant bridges gaps in an attorney’s knowledge. While the attorney is an expert on legal issues, the legal nurse consultant is an expert on nursing and the health care system. Legal nurse consultant screen cases for merit, assist with discovery; conduct the existing literature and medical research; review medical records; identify standards of care; prepare reports and summaries on the extent of injury or illness; create demonstrative evidence; and locate or act as expert witnesses. The legal nurse consultant acts as a specialized member of the litigation team whose professional contributions are often critical to achieving a fair and just outcome for all parties.[1]

A legal nurse consultant differs from a paralegal in that a paralegal assists attorneys in the delivery of legal services and frequently requires a legal education, while a legal nurse consultant is first and foremost a practitioner of nursing, and legal education is not necessarily a prerequisite. A legal nurse consultant uses existing expertise as a health care professional to consult and educate clients on specific medical and nursing issues in their cases.

Aside from within law firms, legal nurse consultants may also work for government agencies, insurance companies and health maintenance organizations, in hospitals as part of the risk management department, and may also be in independent practice.[1]

The American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants which was founded in 1989, is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote legal nurse consulting as a nursing speciality.[3] The Association also promulgates a Code of Ethics for the Legal Nurse Consultant practitioner.[4] As of 2001, the Association had approximately 4,000 members, the majority of whom had joined after 1994