Several years ago an attorney friend called and asked me if
I would do him a “favor” and look at some medical records. When I asked him “why”,
he informed me that he needed someone to explain items in the records in “layman’s
terms”. Ralph said,” hey what are friends for?” So, being the good friend, I
went to his office and broke down all the “official medical terminology” into
common terms for him. Now this wasn’t too hard, it involved things like telling
him that the “femur” was “da big bone it the top of the leg”. Really it wasn’t
quite that simple, but you get the idea. A few days later, I received a check
from him in the mail. Interestingly enough, on the memo line it said “nurse
consultant”.
Ever since then I have had attorneys contact me, not for “favors”,
but to inquire if I would be available to review medical records and what my “rates”
were. Now being a fairly prudent business person, I did some checking and spoke
with my attorney friend who helped me figure out what the going rates were in
this field and came up with a “rate sheet”. Interestingly enough not one of the
attorneys early on ever asked me if I had a clue about what I was doing. They
contacted me because my attorney friend told them what I had done for him and
he, evidently, was happy.
So why are Ralph and I bringing this up now? We all know how
Ralph gets when he gets something on his mind. Ralph kept saying; “if you are
going to do this, you need to really know what you are doing. You know they
teach this stuff and have certifications and everything….” So about six months
ago I began to seriously start researching Legal Nurse Consultant training and
certifications. I found everything from Community College classes to private
firms that, for a large fortune and your first born child, will train you to
perform Legal Nurse Consulting. I researched all the opportunities I found,
weighed the cost, student satisfaction feedback, locations of the courses, and
several other things while I was trying to decide which offering was the best
fit for me.
I finally decided on the program offered by Elizabeth
Rudolph, JD MSN RN (and Ralph thinks I have a lot of letters after my name) for
several reasons. The first was her reputation and credentials, everything I
heard about her and her program was positive. Secondly, she is a “Memphis Girl”,
so if it wasn’t what I thought it would be it wasn’t long distance to make
those annoying “unhappy customer” phone calls. And lastly, I could afford it
both in time and dollars. It is a two day program with a certification exam at
the end of the final day.
So today was day one and even Ralph liked it. The class
represents a variety of clinical experience and it seems everyone is there to
learn and absorb knowledge. Questions are welcome and all the legal mumbo jumbo
and terminology is explained in terms that even Ralph can understand. Topics
other than the finite legal items include helpful tips on everything from
advertising and marketing to billing. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s class
and I might even become a Certified PLNC tomorrow on my birthday!
I will definitely post a blog tomorrow with a subjective
review of the second day of class. Ralph and I are sure we won’t be
disappointed.
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