If you missed our Video Webinar, Is Legal Nurse Consulting the Right Fit for You?, you can view it now! We discuss 5 distinguishing personality traits essential to succeeding as a legal nurse consultant.
We also asked three Certified Legal Nurse Consultants to share the personality traits they’ve had to summon to succeed with attorneys.
Assertive: Assertiveness in talking to attorneys is crucial, whether the CLNC® consultant is discussing a case or interviewing. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant has to be assertive in conveying her knowledge of medical terminology and her ability to explain or educate an attorney on the healthcare aspects of a legal case.
Confident: A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant has to be confident in herself, her skills and her nursing knowledge. A registered nurse (RN) considering becoming a legal nurse consultant must be able to say to herself, “I can do this. I have done harder things as an RN such as completing nursing school, passing boards and facing a physician about a difficult situation.” The mindset that “I can achieve whatever I set my mind to” is a must in a legal nurse consulting business.
Diligent: A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant must be diligent in all matters related to owning a CLNC business. Diligence in paying attention to details of attorney correspondence, writing reports and researching medical information on standards related to the case are all important aspects of legal nurse consulting.
Honest: This is mandatory to function as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. If a case has major issues, it is critical that you inform your attorney-client as soon as possible. If all of the retainer is not used in reviewing a case, send a statement informing the attorney of the remaining balance and ask if the attorney would like you to apply it to the next case. Honesty quickly builds trust with attorney-clients and trust guarantees repeat business.
Organized: A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant must have the skills to mentally organize a complex case and the associated electronic medical record (EMR). Organizing priorities is also essential to keeping up with the business.
– Marcia L. Bell, RN, BSN, CAPA, CLNC
Adaptable: Being able to adapt is an important part of being able to have a good working relationship with attorneys. Not all attorney-clients work and think alike and being able to adapt to their differences will help you be successful as a CLNC consultant.
Ambitious: Redirecting your nursing career requires a great deal of ambition. Legal nurse consulting should be an avenue that speaks to you and initiates a strong desire and eagerness to be successful. We all had that eager feeling as new RN graduates and it continues to be an important part of being successful as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.
Confident: As nurses we need to present ourselves as confident in our skill level and our knowledge base. Working with attorneys is no different.
Patient: You have to be patient and trust the process knowing that hard work does pay off.
Positive: Entering each day with a positive outlook directs how the events of that day play out. If you begin the day feeling down and unhappy, the smallest of events will feel overwhelming and beat you down. A positive attitude will make those events feel like bumps in the road and no longer insurmountable. As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant you will experience negative moments. That’s when it’s most important to stay positive.
– Becky Jones, RN, MSN, CNM, CLNC
Detail-oriented: Small details can be instrumental in helping the attorney win the case.
Kind to self: Taking a break, scheduling a spa day, catching a movie or visiting the local zoo will give you a mental vacation that helps prevent burn-out.
Organized: As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant you need to be able to set deadlines for yourself. Your attorney-clients may not thank you for meeting or beating a deadline, but they will certainly notice if you miss one.
– Camille Joyner, RN, CCM, CLNC
Go ahead, watch the video now to discover whether legal nurse consulting is the right fit for you. Once you’ve watched the video, rate yourself. Do you have the 5 personality traits that I reveal in the video as essential to becoming a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant? You decide!
Success Is Yours,
P.S.Comment and share whether you have the 5 essential personality traits to become a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.
LegalNurse.com is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (NACLNC®) is the largest and oldest association of legal nurse consultants.
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
