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Don't Be Undervalued as a Nurse Paralegal. Become a True Consultant
by Gloria Blackmon, RNC, BSN, Kansas
I must start by saying that every person has the right to choose how they want to enter the world of legal nurse consulting. Looking back on my own nursing career, I wish I'd pursued a BSN initially, rather than an ADN. This is not because I think I suddenly became a better nurse as a BSN graduate, but because the ADN was not in alignment with my career goals. In my enthusiasm to get out quickly and start working, I did not look farther down the road, and it took me a long time to earn my BSN while rotating shifts every four weeks. In the end, I did not save any time or money.
The choice of a nurse paralegal program versus a program designed by and for RN consultants is similar. Our target markets (ie. attorneys and insurance companies) are still confused about what a legal nurse consultant can really do for them. When you mix paralegal tasks with the role of the consultant nurse, a nurse paralegal becomes more multitask oriented and has less autonomy. As nurses, we are very talented in performing multiple roles, but I doubt that doing paralegal work is our goal in becoming legal nurse consultants.
I personally do not want to do any tasks like a nurse paralegal; I want to use my nursing knowledge to assist attorneys and their paralegal staffs with cases. We have been indoctrinated over the years that we may not be needed solely for our nursing skills. In venturing onto a new career path, some nurses think having a paralegal background may give them extra insurance in breaking into the field, only to find out they have been taken advantage of and are undervalued as paralegals rather than as true consultants.
Nurses have told me they thought that, by becoming nurse paralegals, they would learn things about the law that were essential to communicating and navigating the legal world. I believe this perceived need makes nurses vulnerable to accepting a nurse paralegal programs. While a legal nurse consultant must understand the four elements of negligence, a paralegal background is not necessary.
For far too long in nursing, we have fallen victim to systems that do not have our best interests at heart. In order to prevent our consulting role from deteriorating in the future, we must be proactive with the media, with our nursing peers and with everyone who asks, "What is a legal nurse consultant?"
I challenge us all to look at every CE offering and ask:
- What will this program do for me personally as an legal nurse consultant?
- Will this program enhance or distract from my career goal?
- How will this program help me perform my role better as an legal nurse consultant?
- Who is teaching me, what makes them qualified to do so and what is their focus?
My only hope is that nurses make informed choices and do not get hoodwinked into nurse paralegal training when they actually want to be consultants. This is the time for nurses to look to programs that promulgate the legal nurse consultant as a separate and distinct professional role from the nurse paralegal.
© 1999 Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc.
Reprinted from National Medical-Legal Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1999
  
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"I personally do not want to do any paralegal tasks; I want to utilize my nursing knowledge to assist attorneys and their paralegal staffs with cases."
"Some nurses think having a paralegal background may give them extra insurance in breaking into the field, only to find out they have been taken advantage of and are undervalued as paralegals rather than as true consultants."
"My only hope is that nurses make informed choices and do not get hoodwinked into paralegal training when they actually want to be consultants. This is the time for nurses to look to programs that promulgate the legal nurse consultant as a separate and distinct role from the nurse paralegal."
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