Four Ways To Improve Your Nursing Career

In a nursing rut? Here are four ways to feel excited about your future.

1.  Focus on your dream job. Cut to the chase. What aspects of your current job make you happy or sad? Now, stay on course with the ones that make you happy. Exactly why do they make you happy? Can you do more of those tasks and less of the others? Which leads into the next one...

2.  Get more education. It's not enough to have a nursing license, you must continually upgrade your skill set. So, take a course, go to a seminar, listen to a webinar. Just do something to help yourself.

3.  Take time for yourself. Everyday, do something for yourself. Whether that's reading a book, watching something on YouTube or working out. Reduce your stress level.

4.  Give of yourself. Give something back to nursing. Whether it's speaking at a high school to encourage students to become nurses or mentoring student nurses. We wouldn't be the professional nurses were are if it weren't for nursing.

You can do it! Try it!

Nurses: Two Steps To Improve Your Life Right Now

You've been a nurse for a period of time, however short or long it is. What can you do to take your life to the next level?  Here are two tested steps:

1.  Acquire more skills.  Whatever you like to do, learn how to do it better.  You work in the Intensive Care Unit, then get your CCRN certification.  You're a nurse practitioner, then learn the latest about the new medications.  Knowledge is power.

2.  Manage your career.  What does that mean?  If you want to move up the corporate ladder, you need to be a team player.  If you want to branch out and work for yourself, then you need to learn more about where you want to go before you attempt to get there.  Consider it a roadmap.  Would you set out to Australia without knowing the best way to get there?

Being a nurse is a privilege.  For that matter, having a job is a privilege so treat the job, and you, well. And, by the way, have fun at it.

Report Writing Made Easy for the Professional Legal Nurse Consultant

You've completed your review of the medical records, now comes the report. How can you make it thorough, yet understandable? Try these tips:

1.  Short and sweet. No attorney wants to read a dissertation about the med records. Headings in bold or underlined with a paragraph or two under each heading. Period.

2.  Conclusion is key. Be sure your report has your conclusion. That could be the most important part of the entire report.

3. One page, please. You could drone on and on in your report, but don't. Attorneys are busy people. They want your opinion in detail, but there are degrees of detail.

Follow 1, 2 and 3 are you're on your way to a winning report.

Testifying at a Nurse Expert Witness Deposition: Anticipate These Questions

You've decided to be a testifying nurse expert witness but you're unsure what you'll be asked. As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant, you decided to increase your income by trying your hand at testifying.

First thing is first - you'll be sworn in. No matter what, you are there to tell the truth.

There are lots of questions you will, or may, be asked. Here are a few:

List all things, including documents and other items, you used to arrive at your expert opinion. This means you need to know exactly what the attorney provided to you and everything you reviewed, no matter where you got it from. An internet search, books and journals are sources you may have reviewed and must provide to counsel.

Your education, experience and qualifications. The best way to handle this question is to have a curriculum vitae that is up-to-date. Simply provide that to counsel and be prepared to answer questions about it.

Your opinions and the bases for each opinion. As a PLNC, you have reviewed the medical records and formed opinions. Carefully explain each opinion and how you arrived at each.

You can do it. You have the knowledge, the drive and, most importantly, you are a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant.

5 Ways To Increase Your Legal Nurse Practice

It's time to put into practice what you've been thinking about doing for awhile. Expand your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) practice. Here's five ways to do this:

1. Compile a list of fifty attorneys in your area. You want their name, email, address and phone. Send five personalized emails per day including all the PLNC services you can provide.

2. Call each attorney you emailed. For example, you'll send five emails today and tomorrow you'll follow up.

3. Mail each attorney a short letter. Brevity is important so use bullet points to list your PLNC services.

4. Write an article for the local bar association. This is your chance to shine. Tell the reader how you can help, citing your nursing experience and excitement for the job.

5. Get, or update, your Profile Listing on the Jurex Expert Directory. Be sure you add a photograph and post your resume at http://www.jurexnurse.com/about-expert-directory.

You're ready. Now begin.

To Negotiate Your PLNC Rate or Not? That Is The Question

Should you negotiate your hourly rate to review medical records? Consider these first: 1. You want the business; 2. You want the business; and 3. You want the business. So, the answer is clearly "Yes".

Now, how much should you reduce your hourly fee? You want the attorney to use your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) services again, so your interactions need to produce a win-win outcome. Start at $150/hour and realize you need to compromise. Does $125/hour sound good? $115? $100?

Caution: Do not go below $100/hour, if you can avoid it, because it becomes the floor, or ceiling, for your next interactions with this attorney. Plus, you want your PLNC services to viewed as valuable.

You Can Provide Lots of Professional Legal Nurse Consultant Services

As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC), you have lots of tools in your tool chest. Here are a few you should consider promoting:

1. Summarize medical records - so that it's easy for the attorney to understand what happened from a medical perspective. If you're services are being used, it's so you can explain the facts to the untrained individual. Keep your summary simple.

2. Interview witnesses - your opinion of potential witnesses can be extremely helpful. You bring to the table a different view. Offer to help by talking with witnesses.

3. Assist in demonstrative evidence - cases become more real with audio, video and props. Help the attorney come up with evidence that demonstrates a point in the case.

The list goes on and on. You are very valuable and remember that.

Q & A with Elizabeth Rudolph, President, Jurex Center for Legal Nurse Consulting

I just answered a telephone call from a very nice nurse who inquired about the Professional Legal Nurse Consultant Certification Course that's upcoming in Atlanta on March 26 & 27. Her question is one that others may have.



Q: Hi. I've been a nurse for three years and just became a Nurse Practitioner. Would I be a good fit with being a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant?



A: Yes, you would bring to the table another aspect of nursing. Being a nurse is essential, but you also have still another knowledge base. While additional degrees are not required to be a successful PLNC, it could enhance your abilities. Combining nursing and the law is a beautiful blend and one that is a must in today's lawsuit-prone society.



Thank you for this question and keep your questions flowing.

Your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant Marketing Materials Are Key: Getting Attorneys Attention

How you present yourself in your marketing materials is key to opening doors. Is your brochure easy-to-read yet colorful enough to entice attorneys to open it? Does your business card reflect the PLNC services you offer? Is your letterhead pleasing to the eye? Consider these suggestions:

1. Trifold brochure colorful and interesting: Your brochure should be no larger than a trifold on 8 1/2 x 11 size stock. Make it colorful, yet simple to read. Be absolutely sure you include all your contact information. You never know how an attorney will want to contact you.

2. Use both sides of your business card: If you have a logo, include it. List your PLNC services on the reverse side in bullet points or include something of interest on that side. Your goal - for attorneys to keep your business card.

3. Letterhead and envelopes match: You want brand recognition. Use the same font on your letterhead and envelopes. Careful on your color selection so that the text is readable.

Lots to think about, but easy to accomplish. Get the Jurex Marketing Pack and let us do the work for you. The Jurex Marketing Pack includes:

250 Color Brochures
250 Sheets of Letterhead
250 Envelopes
500 Business Cards

Marketing yourself is fun. Especially, when you have the marketing materials to back you up.

New Years Resolution Number One - Become a Successful Professional Legal Nurse Consultant

What does it take to become a successful Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC)? A little determination, some drive and a few tools. We'll help you with these.

Let's start with determination. Make this the time you get your career in gear. Not PLNC certified yet? Then get certified. No excuses. There are four ways to get certified as a PLNC: Live Course, Video Course, Audio Course or E-Course. And, there are four live Spring 2011 courses - Atlanta, Nashville, Cincinnati and Chicago. Already PLNC certified? Register for the Unlimited Mentoring Program where you can get help with your questions.

Put some drive into the equation. Do something. Get a 2011 calendar and write down/enter what you're going to do first. For example, if your'e already PLNC certified, you're going to post your Profile Listing on the Jurex Expert Directory. Not PLNC certified, you're going to register for a live course and get $50 off for early registration, PLUS until Jan. 15 we are giving a New Year's discount of an additional $20 off. So, you're saving $70.

A few tools are all you need now. 1. Read, or reread, the PLNC textbook. It's written in an easy-to-understand manner and contains lots of helpful information and tidbits. 2. Take a Jurex e-course. For example, take the e-course "PLNC Practice Basics" or "Practical Technological Solutions". 3. Vow that you're going to do one thing this month to further your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant career.

Go on and take one step. We're here to help you.

Brush Up On Your Testifying Skills - Earn Even More Money

A great way to earn even more money as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant is to testify in cases. True enough, there are lots of cases to review, but testifying can open up more doors for you. Not only do you broaden your horizons, you can earn even more by testifying. Consider the following when deciding whether or not to try your hand at testifying:

1. Time factor. Do you have the time to prepare to testify? Then, do you have the time to actually testify? Money aside, you'll need several hours to prepare to testify and several more to give your deposition testimony. Since more cases settle than ever go to trial, the chances of actually testifying in court are small.

2. Credibility. You can enhance your credibility by testifying. You will draw upon your nursing skills and combine it with your legal knowledge. It's a perfect blend. You might even get more clients from giving a deposition. Remember, others could be in attendance at your deposition.

Then, of course, is the money. You can earn more by testifying, significantly more.

Get Your Career in Gear

Now's the time to do something for yourself. Get your nursing career in gear by getting certified as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant. First thing is first - get PLNC certified. Next, post your Profile Listing on the Jurex Expert Directory. Then, focus on all the beautiful PLNC services you can provide.

First: Get your Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) certification one of four ways: Live Course, Video Course, Audio Course or E-Course.

Second: Go to www.jurexnurse.com and click on "Expert Directory" and scroll to "Nurse Login". Create your username and password and then simply complete the fields provided. Download a photograph of yourself, include your resume and, there you go, you're ready.

Third: Think of all the PLNC services you can easily provide. No sense recreating the wheel. Think of about these, for example: Review medical records, interpret medical records, assist in preparation of witnesses, deposition and/or trial preparation of witnesses, consider testifying in cases. The list goes on and on.

It's easy as 1-2-3. Now, take the first step.

Easy Ways To Locate Other Medical Expert Witnesses

You're reviewing the medical records in a case as a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC) and your attorney asks if you know if a physician expert witness. How do you find a physician expert witness? Simple - go to www.jurexdoctor.com. Here are some things to consider:

Get paid for your referral. Remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch. If you provide the name of a physician who serves as a medical expert witness, you should be paid a referral fee.

What is the amount of your referral fee? Depends upon the market, but you're generally looking anywhere from $250 - $1000. The case could not go forward without the medical expert witness, so what you bring to the table is absolutely essential.

When do you get paid? You should seek your referral fee as soon as possible. Send an invoice for the amount of the referral fee to the attorney. Attorneys are used to paying for this service. Your referral fee should not be contingent upon the ultimate outcome in the case. Remember your ethics and it should serve you in good stead.

Providing other medical expert witnesses is another service you, as a PLNC, can provide. This could be a valuable source of income for you and win-win for both you and the attorney.

Thanksgiving - Time To Use Our Nursing Skills

Thanksgiving. This is time of the year when we give thanks for all that we have. As nurses, we have skills we can use in so many ways. How do we simply use these skills to help others as well as ourselves? We're probably good at helping others, it's the "ourselves" part that we probably need to work on.

The Thanksgiving List:

1. Make a list of five of your most unique nursing skills.
2. Make a list of five dreams, or goals, you have for your professional life.
3. Combine #1 and #2 above and see if they can somehow fit together.

Now, be determined to put your unique nursing skills to work so you can become more fulfilled. After all, the majority of your waking hours are spent working. So, you might as well be happy doing something(s) you enjoy doing. If not, it's time to broaden your horizons. Check out www.nursinglink.com for ideas to expand the nursing side of yourself.

Make the Most of Client Meetings

As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant (PLNC), you may have to meet with clients for any number of reasons. Perhaps you are helping answer discovery or you are sitting in with the attorney on the initial consultation. Regardless of the reason, there are a number of ways you can make these meetings productive:

1. Plan ahead. Go into the meeting knowing its purpose. Make a list of questions you will ask the client. Bring pen and paper.

2. Eliminate distractions. Make it clear that you are not taking calls or visitors during the meeting.

3. Take good notes. In order to get something out of the meeting, you must take good notes. Plus, taking notes gives off the impression that you are smart.

4. Review your notes immediately after the meeting. By doing so, you can get a handle on the information you learned and decide what to do with it.

Meetings can be time-wasters if you don't use the time wisely. Remember, make the most of a few key meetings.

No Such Thing As Cold Calling: Handling the Phone Call

We all get a little unsettled when thinking about the possibility of "cold calling". In your Professional Legal Nurse Consulting practice, think about the different ways you could approach telephoning an attorney for medical records to review.

First, get organized. Try using a spreadsheet. Whether you use Excel or some other spreadsheet format, or write it out by hand, have a contact document organized as follows:
Column 1: Name (Attorney's name or law firm)
Column 2: Address
Column 3: Telephone number
Column 4: Description - make it brief
Column 5: Email address

Second, do a search about the attorney or law firm before you pick up the telephone. Go online and type in the name of the law firm or attorney in the search engine toolbar and see what you get. Cut and paste into your spreadsheet. Or, go to the library and look through an attorney directory.

Third, make the call. There's no time like the present, as it has been said. Now, the next time you make a phone call, think of it as warm calling instead of cold calling and soon it'll turn into hot calling. It gets easier and easier.

Put Your Invoices to Work

What is the role of an invoice? Of course, it is meant to show how much is owed for a product or service. To get the most out of your invoices, consider including the following:

• Your name and your business name
• Client name and case name or identification number (if it applies)
• Date of invoice
• Tax ID number
• Invoice number for tracking purposes
• Amount owed - where it can be clearly read
• An itemization of your time for the case
• Payment due date

Each of these items seems obvious, however, many invoices do not contain all of this information. Make the most of your invoices, also by:

• Turning in invoices consistently on the same day each week or month
• Billing in small increments when possible - large invoices can slow payment time
• Submit invoices to the correct person or department
• Track and follow up on outstanding invoices at regular intervals

The 12 Essential PLNC Business Tools CD contains an Invoice designed especially for your PLNC business. You don't need to recreate the wheel when it's right here for you.

Other items you can include on your invoices include referral incentives, especially if you are at the end of a project for a firm. You can also include a small discount on your overall fee for projects that went better than expected or in conjunction with a holiday.

It is easy to see your invoices as single function items. However, they can be put to use to make you seem professional, fair and to help you get additional assignments.

Time Management for Every Legal Nurse Consultant

As a Professional Legal Nurse Consultant running your own business, you will find that time often gets away from you. This being the case, you may be tempted to buy a fancy planner and start rigidly scheduling your time. This is not a good idea.

Here are our interpretations of some thoughts from Steve Pavlina, http://www.stevepavlina.com/. He believes that our concept of time is similar to our concept of money. We have a specific amount and we spend it. But that this concept is mistaken. Rather, time is independent of what we do. Whether we work or play, are asleep or awake, time keeps moving. You can spend the next ten years doing nothing and that ten years will still have passed. In other words, you cannot control time, but only how you use time. And the only time you have is this very moment.

Time is not a commodity but rather is a tool. Something to use to benefit yourself and others. So, how does this apply to your Professional Legal Nurse Consulting business? That’s easy. You have to ‘wear many hats’ as a business owner and in order to do so successfully, you must optimize your use of time. So, how?

Everyone will manage their time differently based on their personal and work needs. If you only need to work part-time, then you will have different time management needs than someone who works full-time.

So, begin simply by figuring out how much time you have to devote to your business per day, per week and per month. If you don’t know, keep a time diary for one week. As you begin and end an activity, note the time and the nature of the activity – eat, sleep, commute, phone call with mother, etc. At the end of the week, break down your days by type of activity and figure out how much time you are using on each. It might surprise you to learn that you are watching eight hours of television a week when you thought you only watched one or two.

After you have grouped the activities, look at them and find any places you can change what you do or how long it takes. This is particularly handy if you are trying to ‘make’ time for a new activity or increase time spent on an existing one. This may well mean giving up a favorite television program, or recording it to watch on the weekend.

Now, figure out where in your day your business activities can or will fall. Pencil in that information onto your calendar. Don’t worry right now if you don’t know exactly what you will do during that time. As your business grows, that time will fill up more quickly than you can even imagine.

Overcome Your Doubts: Hear This New Legal Nurse Consultants

Starting a new career can be scary. If you've worked as a nurse for a long time, the concept of starting a business and being your own boss can seem overwhelming. This is true for any entrepreneur. We all have fears and doubts we must deal with when we try something for the first time.

In your mind, do you ever hear the following (or similar):

Who do you think you are?
I can't do this.
What was I thinking?
This is impossible.

If you don't hear such things in your mind, you are one of the lucky ones. Most of us have these negative thoughts sometimes. Some of us have them a majority of the time. But these thoughts are dangerous and need to be stopped. Such thoughts:

Undermine our efforts.
Stifle our creativity.
Lower our self-esteem.
And, most dangerously, become self-fulfilling prophecies.

How can you stop negative thinking? You need to do two things.

1. You need to interrupt the negative thought. You can do this by mentally shouting "Stop it!" or by creating a physical interruption. For instance, you could make yourself do the chicken dance every time you hold onto one of these negative thoughts. This might be sufficiently embarrassing to help you stop. Just imagine doing the chicken dance in an important meeting! Or, you can choose something less obvious to others, but just as effective. In the book, The One Minute Millionaire, the authors suggest that you wear a heavy duty rubber band around your wrist and pop yourself enough to sting every time you catch yourself thinking these dangerous thoughts. How you choose to interrupt these thoughts is up to you, but you must do it every single time.

2. You need to replace the negative thought with a positive one. Simply replace the thought with its opposite. "I can't do this." becomes "I can do this." Nothing fancy. No memorizing. Just a replacement of a part that does not work for you with one that does.

Try this for the next month.

Organizing Yourself and Your Legal Nurse Consulting Business

What is organization? Most people think of a pristine, clean space with a place for everything and everything in its place. This is not necessarily a true definition. Rather, organization is being able to find what you need when you need it, easily and quickly. Several methods of organizing are commonly found in books and on websites. Let’s review the two most common:

Out of sight.

If you are this type of organizer, you work best if items are stored out of sight. You prefer filing cabinets with files neatly hidden inside, lots of drawers and other spaces to keep most items out of sight. Only what you need to work on is out and visible. The benefit of this organizing method is that you are less distracted by other items that need your attention and can focus strictly on the task at hand. Also, to outsiders, your workspace may look more ‘organized’ (tidy).

The disadvantage to this method is that something important might get tucked away in a file or folder and forgotten about. So, to effectively use this method, it is important to have some sort of tickler or reminder system in place to keep track of what is being done and what needs doing. We will discuss tickler systems in a later post.

Out in the open.

This type of organizer prefers to be able to see everything at a glance. If you organize this way, you may have files scattered about and piles of papers. What appears to others to be chaos is actually your system. For you, if something is out of sight, it is also out of mind. The strength of this system is that everything is where you can see it, so items don’t get hidden away and forgotten. Don’t forget, though, that you, too, can benefit from the tickler systems we will cover later.

A drawback of this method is that it can be highly distracting to have numerous projects vying for your attention at once. This type of setup does not pose a problem for everyone, however. And if you work better being able to see everything at a glance, you can very well make this system work for you.

However, an out in the open system does not have to be messy. If you would like to be both neat and organized, you can do so, even with a visual filing system. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have open filing cabinets. Some of these look like milk crates, but are made to hold hanging file folders. Keeping one of these on or close to your desk for current and high priority projects can help you keep on top of your assignments. For completed projects or those with a much longer deadline, consider using banker’s boxes and label them colorfully, so they catch your eye. This way, you not only have a system that keeps you organized, you also have built in storage if you later need to keep old files off-site.

The key thing to remember is that “organized” and “neat” do not always go together. Rather, it is important to find a system that works for you, allowing you to get the work done well and on time. If others perceive it as messy, that is their problem. If you feel your system needs some work, and that it could be tidier, we will discuss ways to tackle that issue soon.