First and foremost, a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) is a nurse, inside and out, and through to our bones. Most nurses stay in their area of specialty for these opportunities, some reach out to different areas.
Nurses, in the clinical area, are constantly aware of all of their patients’ activities. The nurse knows when physical therapy was or was not done and why. The nurse knows when labs are abnormal and who to contact about it. A nurse knows the eating habits, toileting habits, and exercise habits of the patient. Nurses are the liaison between the patient, the family, and all other health care professionals. We are at the hub of health care.
Nurses see our patients every day. We communicate all changes and concerns. We report all abnormal results as warranted. We monitor skin status and make sure they are getting proper nutrition. Nurses are responsible for monitoring medication effects and side effects. We seem to know everything about our patients and, if not, our goal is to find it all out!
Because we are nurses, LNCs know exactly how to read a medical chart—we have been doing this for our entire career. Chart review is what we do! We read medical records in the clinical setting to find out what is going on with vital signs, physical assessments, labs, nutrition, elimination, and emotional state. We monitor for improvement, worsening, or stability in our patients’ medical conditions.
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