Legal nurse consultants (LNC) work on medical cases with attorneys and law firms. Using a combination of medical and legal knowledge, Â LNCs are the individuals responsible for providing much-needed health care guidance to legal professionals representing both patients and health care workers.
Registered nurses looking to expand their skill sets and expertise might consider becoming an LNC. Read on to learn more about what LNCs do, where they work, what they make, and how to become one.
What is a Legal Nurse Consultant?
An LNC is a registered nurse (RN) who provides medical consultations on legal cases. Rather than offering guidance to patients, LNCs review and analyze legal information to advise attorneys working on health care and nursing malpractice cases.
Legal Nursing Consultants: Responsibilities and Work Environment
Unique in the health care industry due to their medical and legal knowledge, LNCs use their expertise to manage a range of responsibilities in a variety of professional settings.
Responsibilities and duties
Though they share much of the same training and experience, the role of an LNC includes vastly different responsibilities and duties than those of an RN. Legal nurse consultants pair their expert medical knowledge with an understanding of health care and nursing laws.
Some common LNC responsibilities include:
•Review and analyze medical records
•Pass professional judgment on medical cases
•Advise attorneys on health care-related cases, such as those pertaining to medical malpractice
•Educate legal experts on the standards of care for nursing
•Act as an expert witness during trials
Work environment
Legal nurse consultants are employed in a wide variety of professional environments, including hospitals, clinics, care facilities, law firms, and health insurance companies.
LNC salary and job outlook
Their unique skill set, training, and experience make LNCs valuable to both employers and potential clients. As a result, RNs who become LNCs can often expect to see a pay increase and more demand for their services.
Legal nurse consultant salary
Although there are no official statistics on the average salary that LNCs make per year, there is data that suggests a reasonable range that those entering the field of legal nursing can expect to make.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual salary for registered nurses was $77,600 in 2021. Using self-reported data, however, Glass door places the median annual salary for legal nursing consultants at $106,691 as of May 2022.
In effect, aspiring LNCs can expect to earn a greater median salary than RNs, though the exact amount will likely vary based on experience and geographic location.
Legal nurse consultant job outlook
Much as is the case with their salary, there are no official statistics on the job outlook for legal nurse consultants. However, the statistics that are available paint an optimistic picture.
According to the BLS, the number of health care occupations is projected to grow by 16 percent between 2020 and 2030. During the same period, the number of RN positions is expected to increase by 9 percent with “about 194,500 [new] openings for registered nurses” each year.
This combined outlook suggests that LNCs can reasonably expect their services to be in-demand in the coming years.
How to become a legal nurse consultant
LNCs are highly trained professionals with a specialized skill set that interprets health care through a legal framework. To become an LNC, you should do the following:
1. Become an RN
To practice as an LNC, you must first be an RN.
Consequently, individuals wanting to become a legal nurse consultant should first work on becoming a certified registered nurse. There are several paths to becoming a registered nurse, including through a bachelor’s degree program, an associate degree program, and a specialized training program.
Once you have achieved the required training, you must then pass National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and receive state licensure to practice as an RN professionally.
2. Get LNC training
Legal nurse consulting programs build on course takers’ medical education and experience by providing a deeper understanding of health care and nursing laws. As a result, registered nurses hoping to become LNCs will likely benefit from attending programs specifically designed to provide legal training to nursing professionals.
3. Consider obtaining a certification
Though not strictly required, those hoping to enter the field might consider joining a legal nurse consultant certification program. Offered by both accredited universities and professional organizations, such as the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC), these programs provide additional training and offer professional legal nursing credentials that could make you a more competitive job applicant. Â
The LNCC exam, for instance, is a common path for an RN to showcase their professional commitment. To qualify for the exam, you must not only be a registered nurse but also have at least five years of professional RN experience, and a minimum of 2000 hours of legal nurse consulting in the past five years. Legal nurse consultants certified through the LNCC exam must take it every five years to maintain their certification.
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