October 2010

Technology today offers a variety of ways to present data to our attorney-clients as Certified Legal Nurse Consultants. Follow these 12 strategies the next time you write a medical-related case report to ensure your attorney-clients don’t miss a single salient point.

1. Present all similar data in columns, not in rows. When you place all related data – for example, all temperature readings, all hematocrits or all entries from the nurses’ notes – in a single column, the reader’s eyes can travel easily up and down to quickly compare and spot trends or discrepancies.
2. List events or other data in chronological order. If you’re dealing with late entries in the medical record, list the questionable entries in the stated order, noting in the Comments column that you suspect they were late. If a med given at 9:30am isn’t significant until the patient has a reaction to it at 12:00 noon, still list the medicine when it was given at 9:30; then in the 13:00 entry, refer back to the 9:30 entry, if necessary.
3. When creating lengthy chronologies, put data in similar order within each entry. For example, if most entries in your chronology summarize daily events including nursing notes, meds, medical orders, etc. list these in the same order each day. This makes each piece of data easier for your reader to find.
4. Be sure what actually happened is in the Events column and your comments about what happened is in the Comments column. Be careful not to mix up the two. Even when you’re summarizing or paraphrasing the record, you’re still describing the event – so put this in the Events column. Your opinions or notations on what was missing from the record, what was inconsistent, what was unlikely given the patient’s condition, what deviated from the SOC, etc. go in the Comments column.
5. If you have several tables in one report, use similar column widths and the same font and font size for column headings. This makes it easier for the reader to find and cross-reference data in different tables.
6. Give all figures, tables and exhibits meaningful titles. Also add descriptive captions to figures. Don’t just call a table “Chronology” – call it “Chronology of David Jackson’s Hospitalization at Memorial Oaks Rehab Center, 10/02/10-10/27/10.” This helps your reader to quickly find data that’s important to her and to understand the data she’s reading.
7. Refer to figures, tables and exhibits in the body of your text both by title and by number of letter. This makes it easier for your reader to find the data. Make sure your text shows why this data is included and its importance to the case – in other words, interpret your data for the reader.
8. Short tables can be incorporated into your text directly, unless they’re a part of a sequence of data which logically group together at the end of the report. If you’re putting a relatively short table in an attachment at the end of the report, expand the columns or enlarge the font size to make the best use of the space. Ultimately, the decision on where to place tables, figures and other data is based on where the reader can find it the quickest.
9. Tables, especially longer ones, are easier to read and follow when you use grid lines. Keep the grid lines thin and light to avoid distracting from your data.
10. For tables longer than one page, set them up so that the title and heading rows repeat on each page.
11. Optimize column widths in tables. If you have extensive Comments, make that column wider. If your Event descriptions are longer, give that column more space. Wrap text when needed. Generally, put Date/Time in one column and make it as narrow as possible to save space. If your entire chronology takes place on one day, you don’t have to restate the date for every entry – just be sure the date is part of the title of your table and use a Time column instead of a Date/Time column.
12. Don’t be afraid to use landscape layout if that will help you present the data more compactly or more effectively. Often landscape works best when you have numerous columns.

Now that you know these 12 strategies to present to your attorney-clients in an easy to understand format, it’s time to go write that report.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment and share your favorite formatting tips.

Marketing is one of the simplest subjects you will ever study. So, why do some people fail miserably at it? Because they just don’t do it.

Wayne Gretsky, the famous hockey player, once said, “You miss all the shots you don’t take.” These words of wisdom apply as much to marketing as they do to hockey.

The easy part of launching your Certified Legal Nurse Consultant business is developing your marketing plan. But a plan without action won’t get you attorney-clients. Develop a plan, set measurable, results-oriented objectives and target dates, then act on it.

For example, if you set a goal of marketing to five attorneys each week, you can meet that goal without accomplishing any results for your CLNC^® business. Instead, set a results-oriented objective for your CLNC^® business, such as marketing to a minimum of five attorneys weekly until you get a new attorney-client. This results-oriented objective not only propels you to act, but requires you to act until you achieve the desired result for your legal nurse consulting business.

Most people know what they need to do, they just don’t do what they know. Get out there and just DO it!

Success Is Inside!

Every web browser accepts cookies. These are the innocuous little files kept by your browser from websites you visit. Cookies have a lot of uses. They can keep your web travel history so that when you return to a website it will remember you and key your browser to pull up your login and password. They also keep a history of websites you visit and they help other websites serve you advertising based on your past browsing and purchases across the web.

Depending upon which web browser you use, Internet Explorer^®, Firefox^® or Chrome^®, you have a lot of choices regarding the cookies you keep, or in geek-speak, retain on your computer. In my experience, it is best to set your browser to accept cookies (from the originating site only – i.e., the one you’re viewing) but I reject third-party cookies (which are usually “set” by advertisers). You have to set your own preferences and see how it affects your web-browsing enjoyment.

There’s a new type of cookie in the store though. It’s called a flash cookie or in geek-speak a “local shared object” or “LSO.” These are cookie-like data stored by Adobe^® Flash Player^® on your hard disk. LSOs can be put there by banks, advertisers and other web-based merchant or sales sites. They allow that site to see how long you visited and how you navigated the site. I’ve read that only the website that set the flash cookie can read it but that any website can read the “directory,” or master list, of stored flash cookies and see where you’ve been. They can then use that data to tailor advertising, special offers or perhaps even worse to you.

Unlike other cookies, which can be temporary or easily deleted when exiting your web browser, flash cookies are permanent, that is they must be specifically located and deleted. This is one reason to use the Firefox browser. There’s a Firefox add-in called “Better Privacy” that allows you to automatically delete any accumulated flash cookies each time you close or finish your browsing session. I haven’t seen a similar control for Internet Explorer yet, but I’m sure one will be created soon. Google’s Chrome browser doesn’t directly offer protection from flash cookies but, if you fish around and go to “Tools,” “Options” and then “Under the Hood,” there is a link to Adobe’s Global Privacy Settings Panel. There you have the opportunity to globally set your flash cookie storage settings for all your browsers (because Flash Player is what stores them). I’ve set mine to deny third parties but accept them from sites I visit (until Firefox deletes them – Hah!). I did notice that to keep my login to my customized Yahoo! homepage, I had to specifically put an exception into Better Privacy’s “Edit Protection List.” It’s listed now as “my.yahoo.com” and allows Yahoo! to store an LSO on my hard drive. Facebook has the same issue so I entered it as “facebook.com” in my protection list and it saves that login now. I guess two permanent LSOs are okay.

Is there a danger to LSOs or flash cookies? I can’t say for sure. I don’t go anywhere on the web I shouldn’t, but I don’t like the idea of anyone tracking how I use a website(s). There’s a joke that even paranoids have real enemies. I’ve blogged in the past how unpatched Adobe products often provide an attack vector for Internet villains. There’s a real need to keep your Adobe products updated, patched and locked down. Maybe that’s why Steve Jobs won’t allow Flash on Apple^® products.

Keep on techin’ (safely),
Tom

One of the first things all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants learn in the CLNC^® Certification Program is the 30 CLNC^® services you can and do provide to your attorney-clients. In today’s video blog, one of our CLNC^® Mentors shares a brand new CLNC^® service she is providing to attorneys. Watch this video to add one more service to your own CLNC^® business.

Success Is Inside!

A genius for all times, Albert Einstein once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” When I first read this, I contemplated its meaning and thought: It is only a problem if I allow myself to view it as such. Applying Einstein’s statement in a practical way to my everyday CLNC^® business, I thought: to solve a problem I’ve obviously helped to create, I need to start with a new and fresh MIND.

For example, we condition ourselves to do things the same way, rarely trying new and fresh approaches. For many of us, myself included, the Pavlovian response to new ideas and solving problems is, “The problem with that is….” Well, the problem with that is precisely what Einstein knew – that we can’t solve problems as long as we make them problems. Unless you change your mindset, your thoughts or your inner talk, you will get the same results. Every problem will be a problem when instead it could be a real adventure and opportunity.

Oversimplification? Perhaps. CLNC^® business applications? Infinite. One of the things that makes my husband Tom good with computers is that he doesn’t see a computer problem as a problem. He simply views it as a fun puzzle to solve. I’ve watched him call tech support on an issue and then help the techie resolve it simply because he thinks with a different mindset.

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Nurses often find themselves struggling to change their careers and change their lives with the same mind and the same thoughts that got them to where they were in the first place. The same mind that saves the lives of patients in the middle of the night when the rest of the world is sleeping can surely undo what keeps you from moving forward with your career goals for your future.

As an RN, you already know how the mind works. Here are a few strategies for putting what you already know to use.

Break the Patterns

Your mind is made up of neural pathways that are like roads connecting bits of information. Most of us have found ourselves walking or driving home only to jolt alert and wonder how we got there so fast. The road is so familiar we follow it automatically. The same thing happens in your mind. Once you learn a thing and do it over and over, you follow that pathway from one thought to another automatically, which allows you to walk, speak and move a fork from plate to mouth.

The mind likes patterns, and it’s not always easy to break a pattern. But breaking a pattern presents an opportunity for finding a new solution to a recurring problem. Merely going to an unfamiliar coffee shop to brainstorm ideas can give you a new mindset. You’ll discover fresh ways to implement new and useful solutions.

Stimulate New Senses

The mind stores information along with the entire sensory environment present when that information is acquired. That’s why the smell of vanilla cake baking can bring back a memory of a favorite aunt or the smell of motor oil always reminds you of that time your car broke down on a lonely road. Manage sensory input and you can redirect your neural pathways, at least for the time it takes to tackle a problem. Use candles or potpourri or simply reach into your pantry for a wealth of stimulating scents.

Change Some Small Action or Behavior

Often taking action, even a small one, will automatically change your thoughts. Try this: instead of going immediately to your computer, if that’s your habit, stop instead to write out a short list of what you want to accomplish and then power up.

For example, consider the two CLNC^® consultants I was mentoring on marketing. The first was complaining about the lack of attorneys in her rural area. She thought her market was limited. The other CLNC^® consultant, also from a rural area, had marketed to attorneys outside her town and was so busy she was struggling to keep up. She thinks the market is unlimited. In fact, it was exactly that attitude that led her to the action that got her the positive results.

Think about which mind you have working to solve your Certified Legal Nurse Consultant challenges. Try Einstein’s approach beginning today. Visit a new coffee shop, burn a scented candle or change one small action or behavior each day. Your problems and challenges won’t disappear, but suddenly you’ll find them easier to solve. You may even awaken the genius that is within you.

I’m no Einstein, but…

Vickie

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, let me paint you a picture of pure bliss. Two weeks in the Piedmonte and Lake Districts of Italy, starting the trip in Milano for a little shopping to get over the jet lag. Good food, great wine, better company (Vickie of course) and no email, iPhone or contact with the outside cyber-world.

Having said that, let me make a confession. Vickie disconnects easier than I do. When we leave the country she leaves it behind. The office can contact her if it’s on fire but otherwise it needs to be of very high importance before they call. Vickie won’t check email because she figures it’ll ruin the vacation. We’ve been around people who walk, head down, through the Sistine Chapel responding to email and don’t get to enjoy the beauty above them.

We don’t go naked though when we leave the country. We have a “dumb” smart phone that we take with us. It’s a pretty good phone, but it isn’t connected to a data plan, it doesn’t play music and it won’t surf the web (I think it might accept text messages but I haven’t tried it) – it’s phone calls only. I will download my calendar so I know what city I’m supposed to be in (if this is Tuesday, this must be Cisterna d’Asti) and my contacts in case I need to call someone back home. Once I do that, we’re off. People can call us, if they know the number, but we won’t be checking email until we return home.

As a wise man once said, “therein lies the rub.” I’ve finally joined the culture of distraction and I had to travel all the way to Italy to realize it. I was standing with the other lost spouses outside of one of Milano’s many fitting rooms when I noticed that I was the only one without a device in my hand. (CAVEAT: an Italian man without a cell phone is an outcast. I’ve never seen an Italian man without at least one cell phone – the average is two on the table at lunch and the most I’ve seen was five.)

So there I was, people looking at me like I was lurking around, up to no good – an obvious vagrant or ne’er-do-well. Noticing that I was left out of the fun, and to salvage my techie reputation, I reached for my phone only to realize that I was reaching for just a phone – not a pocketful of fun. I pulled it out anyway (the phone) and pretended to look up something important (like my flight home).

As the day progressed, I became aware that whenever I had a moment free, my hand would unconsciously drift towards the (useless) phone, a holdover of behavior from home where checking email, text messages and the weather is a national obsession – but not one I realized I shared, until that day.

You’ve heard the saying, “wherever you go, there you are.” There I was, addicted to what I’ve warned others about – distraction and the phantom rattle. For the rest of our days in Milano, I struggled with my problem and bravely mastered it before we left for Piedmonte. I didn’t reach for the phone again until we came home.

Back in the States, though, my behavior altered back again, probably due to my environment. The other night at dinner with Vickie, her twin brother Vince and two of the CLNC^® Mentors, Vince commented how much fun it was to be at a dinner table with four people who were all on their phones at once. He made a good point. We put our phones down and picked up the wine instead.

Devices are wonderful – for staying connected to your legal nurse consulting business while you’re on the road, in the car or at the grocery. Plus there’s following football scores while attending the ballet or just sitting around with good friends at dinner and Facebooking about it in real time. Vickie jokes with me that checking your email under the dinner table is like picking your nose in public (What, me?). None of my CLNC^® amigos would ever want to be seen doing that.

I strongly recommend that all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants have a smart phone for their legal nurse consulting business. Just remember, that there’s a time and place for everything and not everywhere is the place and now isn’t always the time.

Keep on techin’,
Tom

Everything you put into a comprehensive report as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant should be there for one purpose and one purpose only – to inform your attorney-client of the information necessary to win the case. Every opinion, every paragraph, every table, every exhibit, every reference should serve that purpose. Your job as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is to make sure the purpose of each part of your report is clear to the attorney reading it. After all, if the attorney has to figure out what you mean by something or why you included something, he might as well do the work himself.

Your attorney-client will be a lot more likely to call on you again and again for comprehensive reports if you make his job easy by following these strategies for creating first-class comprehensive reports.

1. Identify the attorney’s preferences
   The attorney-client may not always know what he needs but often before you provide what you know he needs you may have to first give him what he thinks he needs. Inquire about the intended purpose of the report, potential users of the report and any preferences for format or design. This will accomplish two things in advance:
   • You can more easily judge the format (chronology, narrative, etc.) and amount of detail required for specific portions of the report.
   • You and your attorney-client both know what is being requested, which decreases the risk of providing an unwanted, unnecessary or surprise work product to an attorney.

   This approach will never fail to earn you positive feedback.

2. Keep it real
   Try to learn how much medical knowledge and experience the attorney has with similar cases. For example, if an attorney handles a large number of failure-to-diagnose myocardial infarction (MI) cases, you may not have to include an extensive discussion about anatomy or physiology because the attorney may already be familiar with this information. Instead, tailor this portion of the report to the specific case issues regarding this specific MI. Conversely, if an attorney does not have extensive medical malpractice experience with MI cases, you may devote a section of the report to a review of anatomy and physiology, disease process and current treatment protocols. Don’t assume the attorney knows how this information applies to the case. Always explain how it applies both to the case and the client the attorney is representing. Assessing the attorney’s medical knowledge also guides you in knowing how much you need to translate the medical record and medical terminology.
3. Do Your Research Before You Start Writing
   Review applicable standards of care and scientific literature and identify the sources you will use before drafting the report. This time-saving procedure helps you organize your thoughts and determine where to include the relevant resource material.
4. Recycle your research from other reports for greater efficiency
   Depending on the type of case, you may be able to re-use sections from previous legal nurse consulting reports or summaries prepared for similar cases. For example, in two cases involving delay in diagnosis of myocardial infarction or chest pain evaluation, the standards you applied to the first case may be relevant to the second case. Review your other reports on similar cases to determine if any of the material applies to your current case before starting the report. Of course, there is no “one size fits all” approach to report writing. Each case must be analyzed individually, but occasionally, you may be able to avoid duplicating your effort and research.
5. Create an outline to ensure you cover all important issues

   Outline your opinions as well as your plan for presenting them.

   A comprehensive report includes some or all of the following:

   • Letter to the attorney.
   • Cover sheet.
   • Table of contents.
   • List of records, documents and tangible items reviewed and examined to date.
   • List of significant players.
   • Summary of the case or summary of relevant information.
   • General and specific deviations from, and adherences to, the standards of care (malpractice cases only).
   • Summary of scientific theory, research and standards.
   • Additional discovery.
   • Definitions of all medical terminology and abbreviations in simple terms.
   • Potential opposition arguments.
   • Conclusions.
   • Follow-up questions.
   • Recommendations.
   • Reference list.
   • Summary of testifying experts’ opinions.
   • Abstracts of pertinent articles
   • Copies of relevant scientific literature.
6. Apply a systematic approach to keep chronologies reliable
   Even a small error in date or time can influence the rest of your report. To minimize these costly typos, enter data from one complete section of the chart before moving on to another section. For example, start entering data with nursing and vital sign graphic entries because these data are usually dated and timed and occur more frequently than entries by other healthcare providers. Then, enter all lab report data in the appropriate order before moving on to radiology reports. It may then be possible to place undated or, more often, untimed physician’s progress notes and orders based on the chronology you have already created. In putting the pieces of the puzzle together in this fashion, you may identify other important issues to address in your evaluation and report.
7. Customize the report format to meet the attorney-client’s needs
   Avoid using the same format and length for each and every case. You may wind up including information that is not cost effective or relevant. Instead, write a report that meets your attorney-client’s needs and presents the information in the most logical manner. If you have difficulty organizing your thoughts or facing a blank computer screen, use a computer software program that can help with formatting case reports and chronologies. The key, however, to producing an effective work product is not only format and visual appeal, but the content, analysis, and conclusions you draw. This is the value you bring to case analysis that other members of the legal team are not qualified to do.
8. Break up the topics
   Break up long paragraphs. Stick to one topic per paragraph, just like your English teacher taught you.
9. Use lists to communicate a sequence of items
   To make groups of related points clearer, use bulleted lists. If the sequence of items is important, number the list instead of using bullets, e.g., number a sequence of steps that came or should come in order.
10. Format consistently throughout the report
    Refer to dates and times consistently. You may be used to “military” time, but if your attorney-client isn’t, help the attorney out by also indicating the standard. If using a.m. and p.m., choose a standard format for this and stick to it. Likewise for dates, pick one way of formatting dates and use it throughout the report. Vickie Milazzo Institute standard is the mm/dd/yy format – i.e., March 5, 2010 is formatted 03/05/10. You may choose to spell out dates in the body of your report and use a numerical format for tables.
11. Respect your attorney-client’s intelligence
    When writing your legal nurse consulting report, explain a medically complex situation with the preface, “This is the way I would explain it to a jury.” This allows you to get down to the attorney’s level without insulting his intelligence.
12. Use a cover letter
    If the report is comprehensive, be sure to include a cover letter introducing the report, restating your assignment briefly, summarizing your bottom-line opinion, and conclude by thanking the attorney-client and offering to  provide additional CLNC® services on this or future cases. Also include a table of contents listing the major subheadings within the report.
13. Clarify medical terms and abbreviations
    Either define medical terms and abbreviations on the spot (if few terms are used) or provide a glossary at the end of the report (if numerous terms are used). Whenever you use an abbreviation for the first time, unless you’re absolutely sure your attorney-client is familiar with it (e.g., MD, RN), spell out the term then put the abbreviation in parentheses – for example, advanced cardiac life support (ACLS). Then on subsequent uses of the term, you can simply use the abbreviation. Most acronyms can be formatted without periods. Remember, you’re so familiar with many medical acronyms, you don’t even notice them – but if your attorney-client has to stop and look up a term or puzzle it out, he won’t appreciate your wasting his time.
14. Correctly shorten units of measure
    Use consistent notation for units of measurement throughout the report. In general, abbreviations for units of measurement do not require periods (unless they’re used at the end of a sentence), nor do they require adding an “s” for the plural. For example, 1.5 cc, 0.5 mg, 127 lb (not 127 lbs), etc.
15. Make your report shine by setting it aside
    If time allows, put the report aside for one or two days before doing any final proofreading or editing. Check the report for overall continuity and format, then review each paragraph for content, relevancy and grammar. Finally, analyze each sentence for grammar, proper placement and always check spelling.

    Be sure you deliver what you promised. Before you submit your final report, go back over your notes and the original letter from your attorney-client. What did the attorney ask for? Did you include this information? In your cover letter for your report, do you state that you’re including requests for production, a list of references or a glossary? Make sure it’s all there in the final draft.

Your CLNC^® report will linger in the case file long after your meeting with your attorney-client. It may travel to other law firms or co-counsel, and will be used by many members of the legal team before the case concludes. What type of first (and sometimes, only) impression are you leaving with your attorney-clients and potential future clients? Make every report the best ever by paying stellar attention to detail.

Success Is Inside!

Tom and I travel a lot which means exposure to lots of different types of meals, over which the quality is often out of our control (sort of). No matter how hard we try we can’t control the amounts of sodium and trans-fats or even get real olive oil for a salad. I have my own vices which include movie popcorn, fried chicken and a good bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.

To compensate for our precarious road diets plus our personal vices, we eat organic when we’re home. Healthy and clean – one friend says I’m practically fascist about it. We consume lots of veggies (what Tom lovingly refers to as “weeds”). We try to avoid pastas (heartbreak, cold-turkey withdrawal for an Italian girl) and empty calories. Red wine stays – Tom’s come up with all sorts of medical reasons – improves eyesight, decreases heart disease, muscle relaxant. My favorite sayings of his are “Tastes good to me.” and “Are you going to finish that?”

As RNs, we all know the more empty calories we eat, the more we crave and the unhealthier our bodies become. The fewer empty calories we eat, the less we crave and the easier it is for us to stay healthy.

The empty calories concept can also be applied to what we feed our minds. We’ve become a society that has more free time than ever, but instead of nourishing our minds with a diet full of healthy, nutrient-filled content, we often feed our mind the equivalent of empty calories.

For example, after a hard day at work, we find it easier to reach for the empty calories of YouTube videos, Farmworldland or the 312 channels of HD TV “reality” programs that are anything but. Our thoughts and actions can also be empty or nourishing. On my last flight I witnessed a near fist-fight over luggage space on our crowded airplane. I heard people on the flight complaining over minor discomforts, turning turbulence into icebergs, sinking their day.

Minor annoyances become empty calories if we let them. Instead of focusing on things that don’t matter, we can refocus on the things that do. Toss in some mindfulness, a little bit of gratitude for all we have and top it off with an action step toward your dream and you’ve got a recipe for a nourishing thought. Do activities that nourish your soul – something you need to do for you.

At the end of the day the quantity and quality of the calories you take in, whether physically or mentally, are entirely up to you. What will you feed your mind today?

Success Is Inside!

Some days I love email. Other days, I believe it represents the end of intelligent life on earth. Email, like texting, allows us to communicate in real time without the hassle of actually speaking to another person and therein lies the rub.

Recently though, I (and everyone else on the email exchange here at the Vickie Milazzo Institute) witnessed a conversation that shouldn’t have been conducted via email. Let me tell you about it.

A meeting was scheduled here at the Institute. It’s a recurring meeting so the dates are selected far in advance and a calendar notice is sent to all attendees. One of the participants is an outside consultant without access to the company’s internal calendar. Let’s call him Bjorn to protect his identity.

Bjorn ran into a scheduling conflict and wanted to change the date of the meeting so he sent an email (1) to the meeting organizer. Let’s call her Lisa to protect her identity. Bjorn included all the other meeting participants and asked to reschedule to another day that week without proposing an actual date. Lisa sent an email (2) back to Bjorn (including all the participants) that she’d be out of the office that week but didn’t suggest an alternative date. Bjorn sent Lisa back another email (3) (including everyone) stating that he could do it any other time but the scheduled week. Lisa returned another email (4) (including everyone) asking whether Bjorn could meet on another day during the week he said he was out. Bjorn suggested another date to which Lisa replied she was unavailable (and we all saw both those emails (5 and 6)). Bjorn then suggested (7) (including everyone) three dates which conflicted with everyone else’s dates (because many of the participants were in Atlanta teaching the CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Seminar and NACLNC^® 2-Day Apprenticeship). Lisa then replied (8) (including everyone) that Bjorn’s been consulting with us long enough to know to check our website for seminar dates for conflicts before proposing meeting dates. Before Bjorn could reply to the last email (8) (and include everyone), Lisa proposed another date (9) (including everyone) and asked if it would work. Bjorn replied (10) (including everyone) that it would to which Lisa replied with a thank you (11) (including everyone) and Bjorn replied with a “no problem” (12) (including everyone).

Once they settled on a date, we all received a Microsoft^® Outlook^® meeting request (13) with the new date. This generated six separate email meeting acceptances (which we all got) (14-19) and one (20) cancelling the prior meeting.

If you’re exhausted from reading about the email exchange, think about the fact that no fewer than seven people were involved in the exchange. This means that a grand total of 140 emails were distributed and read (or deleted) by the parties who were included. I don’t know how you handle email, but I believe that 20 emails to reschedule one meeting is a little on the extreme side.

My point here, and it’s not just on top of my head, is that if Bjorn had called Lisa when he originally needed to reschedule (or if Lisa had called Bjorn), they both could have looked at their calendars and rescheduled the meeting at once – rather than in an email exchange that extended over three days. Think of the time this would have saved all the involved parties.

Now, think about the implications for your practice as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. If you need to schedule or reschedule a meeting with an attorney-client or attorney-prospect, email is normally the way you’d do it right? Maybe it won’t be after reading today’s blog.

A quick phone call to an attorney allows you to reschedule quickly and smoothly. Even attorneys don’t like to say “no” over the phone or in person. I’ll quickly delete or turn down an email invitation (unless it’s Vickie) but when the sender calls and talks to me, I find it much harder to do so. In other words, while email would seem a simpler method for a CLNC^® consultant to communicate with an attorney, telephone calls still have a place in today’s society.

If you get the attorney’s voicemail, leave a message with the issue and give him a convenient time to call back when you know you’ll be available. Savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultants also know that phone calls retie the connection – giving you a chance to ask about his family, other cases and just to remind them that you’re out there.

So, the next time you get ready to send out an email, think about it first. Then put down the device and reach for your phone instead. You’ll find it to be a much more satisfying and efficient experience.

Keep on techin’,
Tom

Everybody’s favorite social media site Facebook announced a new feature that can make it more friendly and more useful to Certified Legal Nurse Consultants. The feature I like is a new one within what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “groups.”

Groups allow you to sort your friends into different segments so you can communicate differently with each. What that means to CLNC^® consultants is that you can separate your online friends into groups such as Attorney-Clients, Attorney-Prospects, friends and more importantly, your personal CLNC^® Alliance Group. The new “groups” feature allows you to share updates, pictures and video, work together on shared documents and chat in real time with all or part of the group.

That’s what I’m most excited about for CLNC^® Consultants. I’ve blogged about the importance of creating an alliance with a group of 5-8 other strong Certified Legal Nurse Consultants from different geographical areas and with different nursing specialties. Follow this link to read that blog and then start creating your own CLNC^® Alliance Group. Use this link to set up your alliance group.

Watch this two-minute video from Facebook explaining the new “groups” feature.

Now you can work online more effectively on Facebook with your CLNC^® Alliance groups, getting real-time feedback on your work product.

Start interacting today with your own CLNC^® Alliance group for better business results.

Success Is Inside!