Often, combining career specialties is a great way to bolster your job security and merge two skills to keep your daily work interesting. Along those lines, one of the fastest growing and hottest careers today is in the field of legal nurse consulting. Legal nurse consulting programs can help open those doors for you.

There are over 1 million practicing attorneys in the United States, and many of the attorneys who specialize in civil lawsuits take on medical malpractice type cases. Legal nurse consultants act as a liaison between the medical community and the legal community by helping attorneys and paralegals understand complex medical records and provide translation of medical terms. Legal nurse consultants also help attorneys review and evaluate new cases, research medical literature, and locate and set up independent medical evaluations. They also provide advice, prepare documents and reports, and sometimes give expert medical testimony.

Legal Nurse Consultant Programs Hone Skills
A highly educated and skilled nurse with a strong interest in legal issues can become a successful legal nurse consultant after completion of a legal nurse consulting program. Legal nurse consultants also must possess strong organizational, management, and people skills for interviewing experts, witnesses and others involved in the case, as well as critical thinking and multitasking skills. In addition to taking legal nurse consulting courses, nurses must also stay on top of the new developments in their area of nursing specialty. These consultants may be employed by law firms, pharmaceutical, or insurance companies, or run a private consulting practice of their own.

Legal nurse consulting programs typically consist of basic law for nurses, which includes the explanation of the legal process in both civil and criminal cases, subpoenas and witnesses; use of experts and witnesses; and depositions and other legal training in motions and trials. Other coursework for legal nurse consulting program also includes training in legal research and writing, health care law, as well as how to prepare visual aids for the courtroom.

Making the Case for a Lucrative Career Path
Legal nurse consultants are licensed, registered nurses, which means you must have at least earned a nursing diploma, or completed an associate nursing or bachelor’s degree program. Many nurses taking legal nurse consulting courses have at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing, or a graduate, or postgraduate degree. Nurses interested in a nursing consulting career also have a minimum of five years of experience in a nursing specialty.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses who complete a legal nurse consulting program and enter the field by working for a law firm can expect to earn on average of $60-$100 per hour. Independent consultants who have completed legal nurse consulting courses can expect to earn on average from $65-$200 per hour.

The job prospects for legal nurse consultants are excellent. About half of nurses who complete a legal nurse consulting program work in law firms, insurance companies, and other organizations. The other half of nurses who finish legal consulting courses work for themselves.

Legal nurse consulting programs provide nurses with an interest and knowledge of the law with the necessary skills to expand their medical career.