Have you heard these myths about legal nurse consulting?
1. It is easy money. You’ll charge big bucks, sit home in your pajamas and read cases all day.
The reality: Legal nurse consulting is for the detailed oriented, analytical person who has good writing and computer skills and a love for finding out information. Not all people can do it.
The competition is extremely steep today to get work, so it’s not easy to come by. It’s not easy to charge $125 to $150 an hour, especially depending on your geographic location.
2. All you need is to be a nurse to become a good legal nurse consultant.
The reality: This is a myth about legal nurse consulting because you have to be able to present that information either verbally or in writing. It’s not enough to just be an experienced excellent certified and credentialed nurse. You need ongoing education component from organizations like AALNC to help you understand how to put your nursing knowledge to use in a different arena.
Legal nurse consulting is a business. You need business skills, an understanding of marketing, sales, finances, fostering client relationships, and more to succeed.
3. It is easy to create a work product.
The reality: Most LNCs create work product that is either too verbose or filled with nursing jargon. Worse, I’ve seen work product that is written the way nurses document in the medical record. I see a lot of nurses and as I said they approach me all the time. Your work product needs to be written in the way that the attorney needs it to analyze his case and look at what he’s got.
4. It is easy to get clients.
The reality: It takes a lot of energy, persistence and time to establish your business. It is a myth about legal nurse consulting that attorneys are sitting in their offices hoping an LNC will call them. You’ll need to network, ask for referrals and market in ways your competition is not using.
