From Bedside to Courtroom

After 13 years as a critical care nurse at a San Francisco hospital, Laurie Whaley, RN, started feeling restless. Seeking a career that would allow her to use her skills in a new way, she opted to combine nursing with law.

Whaley enrolled in the legal nurse consultant program at California State University, Hayward. But when she and her husband relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, she switched to the nurse paralegal program at the College of Mount St. Joseph. Whaley is looking forward to fall 2002, when she will start an internship in Cincinnati. Her responsibilities will include facilitating compliance with new healthcare laws and researching healthcare statutes and regulations. "I was at a point in my life where I wanted to learn more, to be challenged more," she says. "And this is perfect for that."

Consultant or Paralegal?

Although the roles of a legal nurse consultant and a nurse paralegal overlap, there are fundamental differences between the two. Legal nurse consultants provide law firms with medical expertise on cases involving personal injury, professional negligence, and product liability. They may be paid US$75 or more per hour, but they are usually employed only for short, outsource contracts.

Nurse paralegals, on the other hand, are usually hired in-house and have full-time work. Law firms, insurance companies, HMOs, medical journals, and government agencies all hire nurse paralegals to do work as legal assistants in the areas of personal injury, workers' compensation, insurance defense, and medical malpractice. They interview clients and expert witnesses, perform legal research, prepare legal documents, and assist with discovery of medical records. Thanks to their specialized expertise, nurse paralegals usually start at a slightly higher salary than other paralegals – about US$30,000 per year, depending on location.

A certificate is not required to work in either area, but a year of legal training makes a legal nurse consultant or a nurse paralegal considerably more marketable. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more employers are looking for paralegals who have completed a certified training program, rather than having to train them on the job. Although these programs are not widely available in Canada, many US colleges offer distance learning to both American and Canadian nurses.

Legal nurse consultant certificate programs generally last a year and require fewer law courses than nurse paralegal programs, focusing instead on issues such as setting up a consulting business and the use of medical records in litigation. Nurse paralegals, on the other hand, receive the same training as traditional paralegals, with additional emphasis on usage of their medical expertise. "Nurse paralegals are trained in corporate law, probate, and other areas that a legal nurse consultant might not be trained in," explains Georgana Taggart, director of the Paralegal Studies for Nurses program at Mount St. Joseph. Their certificate program is comprised of 11 courses lasting six weeks each; subjects include legal research, corporate law, and medical issues in the law.

Legal nurse consultants and nurse paralegals are increasingly sought for their extensive medical knowledge. Taggart says attorneys need experts to help them decipher the specialized language found in medical records. "What they want is the experienced OB/GYN nurse who has seen a certain number of deliveries, and who can look at a chart and see right away if a mistake has been made."

Working in either legal nurse consulting or in the paralegal field requires a specific type of personality. According to Taggart: "It really takes good attention to detail, great logical thinking skills, and the ability to analyze problems and then come up with solutions."

Further Options

Capital University Law School, with campuses in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, offers a legal nurse consultant program but also has a life care planner certificate designed for post-baccalaureate medical professionals. Donna Schoebel, director of the Dayton program and herself a nurse paralegal for the past 12 years, says the life care planner certificate is another option for people who want to use their medical knowledge in a nine-to-five job. Life care planners calculate the cost of maintaining someone with a catastrophic injury or a long-term illness – information that is used for insurance payments or damage claims.

Overall, both Taggart and Schoebel see growth for legal nurses. "The practice of nursing is changing and evolving. Alot of nurses are looking for ways to expand their career opportunities beyond bedside care," says Schoebel. "This is one way they can do that."

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