Articles by Vickie

I asked the CLNC^® Pros to share their favorite easy-to-use exhibiting strategies for gaining new attorney-clients. Add these top 10 marketing ideas to your next exhibit with attorneys.

1. Make your legal nurse consulting exhibit eye popping, big and colorful. Not too busy, not too much information. You don’t want the attorneys to be confused or put off by having to read too much. Make sure you have enough light on the exhibit so that it can be easily seen, even from a distance. The display does not have to be huge. If done well, a simple table top display can be very effective and easier to manage.

“I have banners that hang in front of or behind my booth that include my business name, logo, phone number and website. They have grommet holes for easy attachment and they roll up easily for storage. They get the essential information out visibly, look great and aren’t expensive.

Last year I exhibited at a local event. It was small and not costly to exhibit. Although the attendee list was small, I ended up gaining two excellent attorney-clients from that event. I never sat down and made an effort to draw in every attorney that walked by my booth. One attorney told me that large exhibits did not impress him. He was much more interested in the personal touch and the conversation in which we engaged. He thought I had a lot of “guts” and that’s what drew him to me. He actually didn’t even live in my city. He lived 120 miles away and I now get every one of his cases. He is a very busy personal injury attorney, and he has referred many of his colleagues to me.”

Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, PHN, CLNC

2. Get the best location in the exhibit hall that your advertising dollars will buy. Your CLNC^® business will benefit when you are on a main aisle close to the entrance…or the food!
3. Promote your risk-free guarantee as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant on your display and when talking to attorney-prospects.
4. If you are exhibiting at a conference that has 500-1,000 attorneys attending, take someone with you so you don’t miss a single opportunity to promote your CLNC^® business.
5. Dress professionally and maintain a high level of energy. Energy is contagious. Having fun and being professional are not mutually exclusive. Stand in front of the booth, not behind the table and don’t sit down. This creates the space for the attorney-prospects to easily approach you. Even if you have to move out into the aisle approach the attorneys to invite them into your space.
6. Give attorney-prospects promotional materials or items that have your contact information and promote your legal nurse consulting business. People like to get free things to take with them (pens, Post It^® notes, audio CDs on topics such as electronic medical records, etc.). These are items that they will be using well into the future and when the day comes that they just can’t figure something out on one of their cases, they will remember you, and right at their fingertips will be your contact information. As they sit there twirling their pen, they will see that the answer to their prayers is right in their hand.

“One attorney told me that he couldn’t remember my name when he was struggling with a case, but when he took his pen out of his mouth, there I was. He always says that that was the best pen he has ever had.”

Nikki Chuml, RNC, FMC, PRN, CLNC

“Give away fortune cookies that have a catchy fortune and your contact information. The fortune can read, ‘Confucius says lawyers that understand the value of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants succeed where others fail!’”

Dorene Goldstein, RNC, CLNC


7. Include a drawing for a free case screening in exchange for the attorney-prospects’ business cards. This gives them a reason to stay connected. You can have as many winners as you have time for. Many Certified Legal Nurse Consultants use this strategy as a way to get their foot in the door. Most tell us that when they call the law firm to announce the free screening they get through to the attorney with ease. As one CLNC^® consultant says, “It works every time.” You can also have a drawing for an in-house presentation on a topic relevant to the law firm’s medical-related cases and again have as many winners as you have time for.
8. Never leave your CLNC^® booth and always exhibit to the very end. You’ll meet some of the best attorney-prospects near the end of the day. Also, stay during session time for the attorneys who skip a session to get an edge on the exhibits.
9. Attend all social functions sponsored by the association to which exhibitors are invited. Make it your goal to meet at least 5-8 attorneys at each function.
10. Stay off your cell phone and computer at all times when attorneys are in the exhibit space.

Use these top 10 exhibiting strategies from these CLNC^® Pros the next time you are in front of attorneys to guarantee you take home a new attorney-client every time.

Success Is Inside!

Exhibiting is a cost-effective way to get in front of a large number of attorneys in a very short time. I asked four Certified Legal Nurse Consultants to share the role that exhibiting plays in their marketing plans.

1. “I exhibit at the same legal conference year after year. One of my attorney-clients joins my exhibit and markets to new attorneys for me, telling them that they cannot afford not to use me! All I do is stand there, smile, collect their business cards and answer any questions they have about the CLNC^® services I offer. Having my attorney-client refer me in person really helps other attorneys see the benefit of hiring a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.”

   Nikki Chuml, RNC, FMC, PRN, CLNC

2. “Recently a CLNC^® colleague exhibited at a legal conference and ended up with more cases than she knew what to do with, all cases coming from one attorney. Her recent email to me stated, “Be careful what you wish for; because it just may come true!” Exhibiting paid off handsomely for her.”

   Lawrence H. Frace, RN, CLNC

3. “I recommend exhibiting to promote your legal nurse consulting business whenever you can. The more often the better. Legal conferences for personal injury attorneys are my favorite. At one legal conference, I had five or six attorneys at a time at my table talking war stories. They are like nurses. When they get together, they like sharing war stories from their cases. I joined right in talking war stories of how I helped an attorney win a case and they loved it. I ended up with three attorney-clients from that one conference and we are still telling war stories today.”

   Nikki Chuml, RNC, FMC, PRN, CLNC

4. “In mapping out a new marketing plan for my CLNC^® business each year, I make sure to plan for three to four opportunities to exhibit at legal conferences or symposiums. I belong to a couple of organizations that offer exhibiting space at discounted rates for members. I’ve learned to think outside the box as to what may yield good revenue. I gained some good attorney-clients last year from exhibiting at a conference about class action suits. Many of those cases do not involve medical issues, but enough of them do. Many of the attorneys in attendance also handle medical-related cases, so those are the attorneys I focused on and it was a great opportunity to present my CLNC^® consulting services to them. Exhibiting can be a lot of fun and all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants should add it to their marketing plans.”

   Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, PHN, CLNC

Success Is Inside!

P.S.	Comment and share your successful exhibiting experiences at legal conferences.

Five years ago yesterday, Hurricane Katrina forever changed the lives of so many people I know – family, friends and strangers. We often forget it affected people not just in New Orleans but throughout the Gulf Coast region and will do so for years to come.

We never know what life will throw at us and how we react to it is entirely up to us. Like many New Orleanians, my family suffered from varying degrees of flood damage. One of my best friends left the city for good and another lost everything due to flooding that nearly reached her attic. They’ve all recovered and are doing better than ever – they all still have that “New Orleans Spirit” wherever they are.

After Katrina struck, I was lucky enough to be in a position to give financial support to my family and friends. One of my best friends who lost everything, asked me to help her family instead of her. I was in awe of her generosity toward her family when she herself was in need.

In the years since Katrina, my best friend purchased another house in a neighborhood close to where her original home stood. She didn’t recover much from her home, only some cookware (the metal survived the immersion), a quilt (that was lying on her mattress when it floated to the ceiling) and some Christmas ornaments (stored in the attic). All her photos and family mementos were lost.

Despite the loss, I never heard her complain about her situation. She moved forward, staying in the same area, rebuilding her life and keeping her “New Orleans Spirit.” Anytime she’d visit me in Houston, we’d go shopping as she rebuilt her home. One piece at a time, she would buy a lamp, outfit or other item. I would joke with her that her car looked like a homeless person’s packed with all the treasures she’d picked up while traveling between New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Dallas and Houston and she’d joke back, “Vickie, I am homeless.”

Throughout her own rebuilding, she helped and supported her family including cousins while they rebuilt their homes and lives. Although her story is just one of many, her selflessness stays with me today. She was, and is a model to me of how to deal with difficult situations.

Ask yourself if you lost everything, could you rebuild your home, family and legal nurse consulting career with my friend’s “New Orleans Spirit?” My hat is off to all those who have and who are still working to do so. I only hope I would be as strong.

Success Is Inside!

Vickie, I just have to tell you about my recent exhibiting success. I started my Certified Legal Nurse Consultant business 5½ months ago after a long hiatus from nursing. I was fortunate to be able to work on my legal nurse consulting business full time and I made a concerted effort to use the marketing strategies I learned from the CLNC^® Certification Program. I got my first two cases on the same day within a week of my launch date just networking with friends. This networking brought me two attorneys and seven cases in the first three months.

To create immediate success for my legal nurse consulting business, I decided to exhibit at a statewide plaintiff attorney convention. I put to use the event marketing information in the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook, NACLNC^® Apprenticeship and Advanced CLNC^® Practice-Building Programs. I decided to spend the money to hire a graphic designer to create a professional tri-fold exhibit I could use repeatedly. I was thrilled with the final product and thanks to the information I received from Vickie Milazzo Institute, my exhibit booth looked attractive and professional.

I stood in front of my exhibit throughout the convention and introduced myself to most everyone who walked by. I passed out numerous business cards and brochures. I focused my conversations on how the attorneys were currently screening and developing their medical-related cases and how I could save them time and money. On the first day, I stayed until all attorneys and all but two exhibitors had left the exhibit hall. Ten minutes after returning to my hotel room, I got a call from an attorney-prospect who was waiting by my booth with medical records for me to review! Needless to say, I ran downstairs to meet with him. Believe it or not, I walked away from that convention with not one but two sets of medical records and retainers for both cases from that one attorney!

I received permission to follow up from every attorney with whom I spoke. I also gave free screenings to three attorneys who were particularly interested in my CLNC^® services. Two other attorneys asked me to call them after the convention to discuss a case on which they needed help. The day after I notified one attorney of his free screening, he called me to discuss a case he wanted me to handle. He needed help with several cases and wanted to get started. His firm handles a large number of malpractice and negligence cases so this opportunity really opened doors for my CLNC^® business.

I was surprised on the second day of the convention when one of the other two legal nurse consultant exhibitors shut down their booth (three RNs were exhibiting together). It was “tax-free shopping” that weekend so they closed their booth at 11:00am and went shopping! Needless to say, they had not attended the Vickie Milazzo Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program. Since the convention was only 2½ days, they lost a huge opportunity to meet attorneys.

All in all, as a result of exhibiting at this one event I came home with the following:

• Two sets of medical records and retainer fees for each case from the same attorney.
• Requests from two attorneys to call regarding cases on which they need help.
• Request to screen a case for merit from a new attorney-client.
• Request to locate two testifying experts.
• Plus I received the attorney mailing list database from the association sponsoring the convention.

While exhibiting is not cheap nor easy, it definitely paid off for me. It gave my CLNC^® business statewide exposure and I will be hiring my first CLNC^® subcontractor to help with my rapidly increasing case load. I love my new career as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and look forward to many years of exhibiting success.

Laura H. Beard, RN, BSN, CLNC is president of LHB Medical-Legal Consulting located in South Carolina and specializes in medical malpractice, personal injury, workers’ compensation cases and Medicare Set-Aside Allocations.

Attorneys were probably the last group of professionals to embrace email. For years they hid behind their assistants and never touched a computer, much less sent or received an email. While I still know a few dinosaurs, for most attorneys today, email is the preferred form of communication.

I love email and the efficiency of communicating by email. My staff teases me that they often receive succinct, one- or two-word email messages from me (Yes. No. Thanks! Do it!). I receive more email than most people in my office and quite frankly, some of it is simply horrific. (I can’t put in writing what comes to mind when reading some of it.) It’s often hard to believe that it was composed and sent by a professional.

With this in mind, I’d like to offer you my top 9 tips for communicating clearly and effectively with your attorney-clients. These tips will keep you from hitting “horrific” status with any of your attorney-clients or prospects.

1. Have a proper email address. Email is a business communication and your email address is part of your marketing. PinkBunny1969@whatever.com may be appropriate for your online dating profile but sends the wrong message to attorneys. Go to GoDaddy.com and register your legal nurse consulting business’s name, or a derivative of it as a domain name. Then follow GoDaddy’s simple steps to create an email account. Now you’re JesseCook@JMC-Consulting.com – much better plus it helps brand your business every time you send an email.
2. Use a clear subject line. Many people scan their email box by subject to determine not only the priority of the communication but also whether to classify it as spam or to file it. If you get an email with a subject such as “You need my services,” “A question for you” or “Re: Additional Issues in the Smith Case,” which one do you think you’d open first, if at all? If you don’t know the answer, you’ve got some homework to do. Address your subject clearly and succinctly. Your attorney-recipient should know just from the subject line what your message relates to, its priority and where to file it for later review.
3. When possible, keep it short. If it’s a longer communication consider putting it in a letter on your legal nurse consulting company’s letterhead and attach it as a PDF or Word^® document so that the attorney-client can print it for the file. Email is great for shorter communications but remember, many people read email in their preview window on their screen or on a cell phone. Shorter messages are easier to comprehend (that’s why the webpages of news organizations are short). If someone has to print your message to understand it, you may as well brand it on letterhead. If I have an important email I’m working on, I’ll often compose it in Word and then cut and paste it into my email. This allows me more control over my thoughts.
4. Compose sensitive and important email before filling in the “To” field. Have you ever accidently hit Send before you were ready or before you completed composing your important missive? I know I have. To remedy this, I recommend adding the recipients’ email addresses for the to, cc or bcc fields only when you’re sure you’re ready to send your final email.
5. Take a deep breath before replying. Not every email requires an immediate reply, especially one that raises your blood pressure. This is especially important if you haven’t yet cooled off before firing off that terse reply letting the recipient know exactly what you think. Remember, there’s not really an “undo” button and this tip combined with #4 above will help to keep you on good terms with all your attorney-clients and colleagues.
6. Don’t use text-messaging slang such as IMHO in a professional communication. Save them for Facebook, Twitter and texting. Remember you’re communicating professionally, not personally.
7. DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS – that’s still the Internet equivalent of shouting. It’s hard to believe in 2010 I still have to remind people of this. If your “Caps Lock” key is stuck, it’s time to buy a can of air and blow the brownie crumbs out of your keyboard. Here’s a link to Tom’s Tech Tip on cleaning your computer.
8. Proof your work. Yes, it sounds too simple but often, due to the perceived informal nature of email, people don’t proof it. I’ve often received email that contains incomplete sentences and thoughts that aren’t fully developed. This is simply because the sender was in a rush to click Send. If it’s an important email, I’ll print it and hand proof it prior to sending. Adhere to basic grammar rules. In today’s world you don’t have to be perfect, but likewise, you don’t want someone labeling you a grammar-barbarian.
9. Use a spell checker. Just about every email program has this capability. Make sure you turn it on. What is an attorney going to think of someone who can’t spell simple words or who sends their communications full of typos?

Every day I get email that breaks these rules – some even break all 9 at once! Email is probably your typical form of communication as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Make yours a reflection of your professionalism and your email will help you gain attorney-clients, not lose them at “helllo.” Yes, that typo was intentional.

Success Is inside!

To be a successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you want to attain your optimal level of health.

I invite you to join me along with my personal physician, Jyotsna Sahni, MD, for a FREE Webinar Recording – The 10 Newest and Proven Strategies to Be Healthier Than Ever. When you meet Dr. Sahni, you’ll instantly get why I travel from Houston (where we have one of the most world renowned medical centers) to the desert of Arizona each year for her expert medical advice.

Being healthy really doesn’t have to be difficult. Together, Dr. Sahni and I will shatter the ideas behind conventional wisdom and introduce you to the newest facts on how to live a truly healthy life. Get wise to the most up-to-date and scientifically proven knowledge on how being healthy is finally attainable for anyone, no matter their current state of wellness. Learn how to pull it all together for total health with these 10 areas of wellness:

1. Reducing inflammation
2. Importance of vitamin D
3. Tips for stabilizing blood sugar
4. Why it’s important to get juicy
5. Maintaining a healthy BMI
6. Ways to strengthen your core (and we’re not talking abs)
7. Why how long you sleep is more important than where you sleep
8. Methods for renewal that will restore your sanity
9. Oxytocin and social connections
10. How to renew your spirit

Click here to listen to this FREE Health Webinar now!

Success Is Inside!

One of my favorite things to do in Austin, Texas, other than eating at La Condesa, is walking the trail around Lady Bird Lake. It’s peaceful and relaxing being by the water. You get to see aquatic wildlife and, if you’re fast enough, sometimes you can catch a glimpse of a turtle or two sunning themselves on the bank. On our last trip, while walking the trail, Tom and I had a pretty good laugh over a warning sign we ran into on the trail, obviously put in place by a well-meaning worker from the City of Austin’s Public Works Department. It reads: SIDEWALK CLOSED, USE OTHER SIDE.

While the sign, does indeed seem to point out the obvious, it made me think about legal nurse consultants writing reports for attorney-clients. Whether you’re writing a brief or comprehensive report, you need to point out the obvious, salient points from the medical record for that attorney-client. This includes deviations from and adherences to the standard of care. As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you’re the expert on the medical record and you are the one who must point out the obvious. The attorney is the expert on the law. While you may work with an attorney or two who knows enough about medicine to open a practice as a doctor (unlicensed), the majority of attorneys do not. Those attorney-clients depend upon you to tell them what they need to know about the treatment, injury and actions of the parties. This includes pointing out the obvious.

As a nurse, you have a tremendous amount of knowledge about nursing, medicine and just about every aspect of healthcare. This brings its own dangers. Sometimes incidents, deviations or lapses in care that are obvious to you in their effect on the case, won’t be obvious to your attorney-client. Certainly you need to write your legal nurse consulting reports to the skill level of each particular attorney-client, but, at the same time, you don’t want to overestimate their ability to see and understand the obvious. You can’t assume that the attorney will recognize the importance of a critical deviation if you give it the same weight as every other deviation you address in your report. What’s obviously important to you, may not be obvious or important to the attorney-client. If you don’t believe me, think of some of the obviously important things you point out to your spouse (“Honey, remember what happened last time you tried to rewire a lamp? I think you should unplug it first. Or Honey, don’t let the baby get too close to that alligator.”).

If something is obvious to you and importantly obvious to the case, point it out. Tell the attorney-client why it’s important. Don’t assume they’ll pick up on it themselves. Do this religiously and you just might keep them from getting soaked in court or in a lake.

Success Is Inside!

I talk to thousands of RNs every year who are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the healthcare system. Many of these conversations remind me of a dinner I had with my father at an Italian restaurant. After an animated discussion with the waiter, my dad ordered a pasta dish that wasn’t on the menu, telling the waiter exactly what he wanted in it.

When the food came, it was presented beautifully and prepared exactly as he had requested. Bits of scallion, garlic and peppered chicken glistened over a serving of fettuccine, all mixed with basil and olive oil, topped with chunks of ripe, red tomato lightly dusted with Parmesan cheese. The dish looked so good, I wanted it instead of my own.

I expected my father to be delighted with his meal. Instead, he started comparing it to a completely different pasta dish from a different Italian restaurant. Rather than enjoying his dinner, he found fault with the waiter, the restaurant and the chef for not serving this other recipe. According to dad, the dish was prepared wrong and even had the wrong ingredients! He specifically complained that there shouldn’t have been any tomatoes and there wasn’t enough garlic.

I sat there both stunned and amused. Even though my dad’s pasta was prepared exactly as he had requested, it wasn’t what he really wanted because it wasn’t the dish he was used to ordering at the other restaurant. Finally, I gently interrupted his litany of complaints, reminding him that he had received exactly what he ordered. In fact, after tasting it, I liked it even better than the dish he was comparing it to.

Dad replied, “I may have gotten what I ordered, but it isn’t what I want.” My father had expected the waiter to read his mind and bring him something other than what he ordered. Eventually, my dad’s hunger got the best of him and he enjoyed his meal to the last bite. After all, when you’re hungry, even the wrong dish fills your stomach.

What Career Menu Are You Ordering From?

As an RN, are you hungry for job satisfaction but ordering the wrong dish off the wrong menu?

• Do you feel exhausted by your working conditions and environment?
• Do you dislike the hours, the weekends, the administration, the HMOs?
• Are you cranky about too many patients and not enough time to provide the quality of care you know you’re capable of?

If your nursing career isn’t where you want it to be, are you confusing your expectations and desires with what a traditional nursing job menu offers? Are you trying to order a dish that isn’t on the menu?

Like my dad, you may have expectations about what you are being served. You may have tried your best to order exactly what you wanted. Yet what’s on your plate has turned out very differently from what you were expecting.

If you stay at your same RN job and order off the same old RN job menu, don’t be surprised when you get what you’ve always gotten even though it’s not what you want. Much like the Salisbury steak in a hospital cafeteria, what healthcare facilities serve up for your nursing career has been on the menu for years. Sometimes the description changes, sometimes the preparation changes, but it’s still the same old Salisbury steak, and it is still not very satisfying for many RNs I’ve come to know.

Feast at a Brand New Restaurant

If you’re salivating for a nursing dish with different ingredients, if you want more autonomy, freedom, control or money, it’s time to feast at a new restaurant with a new and modern menu.

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants don’t order off the traditional menu offered by healthcare facilities. They’ve found a new menu that features more of what they want for themselves and they’re willing to leave their hospital restaurant to enjoy that innovative menu. For these nurses, the legal nurse consulting restaurant has the right menu – dishes that satisfy their palate in every way, and choices so plentiful they don’t have to look anywhere else because any dish they can imagine is already on the CLNC^® menu.

Life is meant to be an adventurous banquet filled with tasty and satisfying dining experiences. It’s your meal – you get to choose the restaurant and write your own menu. Shouldn’t you get what you want, what you deserve, like so many other nurses who have chosen to stop ordering off the wrong menu?

Your right menu is just an action step away. Go to the right nursing restaurant today and you’ll find that one dish you’ve been craving. I invite you to join me and my CLNC^® colleagues at the legal nurse consulting banquet – the taste sensation of a lifetime. Don’t miss another minute of this exciting feast – reserve your place at the CLNC^® banquet table today.

Success Is Inside!

Screening medical-related cases is one of the most important legal nurse consulting services you will provide as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Not only is it one of my favorite CLNC^® services but it is the first CLNC^® service you usually provide for new attorney-clients. Do it well and the attorneys keep coming back for more. Here are 16 screening strategies to keep your attorney-clients coming.

Stay Focused on the Essentials

1. Give the attorney an objective, candid and honest opinion without regard for what you think the attorney wants to hear. Put aside interests in personal gain (e.g., more billable hours) and focus only on what is ultimately best for the attorney, the client and the case.
2. Discuss the issues and theme of the case with the attorney-client and ascertain the date of the incident (when known) to help you focus quickly on the important events. If the case has been filed, request a copy of the complaint or petition. You will screen many cases in which the attorney knows little about the facts and has formed no opinion. If the attorney does have an opinion and you believe he is focusing on the wrong issues or your opinion is different, be sure to communicate your reasoning right away.
3. If you do not have time to do the screening as soon as you receive the case, at least read the cover letter and scan the medical records. This helps you to establish deadlines, determine the basic issues of the case and assure you have all the necessary records. If relevant records are missing, inform your attorney-client immediately.
4. Scan all relevant medical records and, where appropriate, note important observations and opinions. Avoid excessive writing at the screening stage, especially if you haven’t yet identified the essential issues and themes of the case. Your goal at the screening stage is to be efficient, and until you’ve reviewed all relevant records and identified key issues, it is very easy to go down unnecessary rabbit trails.
5. Use the screening form to track all possible defendants, types of experts needed, additional documents needed and recommended research. When you give your screening opinion to the attorney, you can incorporate some of these into recommendations for the next indicated steps.
6. Screening a case is similar to reading a mystery novel. You may even be surprised by the outcome because the focus may shift from something obvious, like a patient fall, to a less obvious issue, such as medication administration or safety policies and procedures. As new and more relevant issues arise, determine their significance and how they impact the essence of the case.
7. Do not overlook the obvious by overanalyzing the records. Likewise do not assume that the issues will automatically jump out at you. If you become overwhelmed by the task at hand or the volume of medical records, walk away for a while, or a day or two, then come back fresh and start again.
8. Do not assume the case has no merit simply because a physician reviewed the records and found no merit. Physicians tend to limit their reviews to doctors’ records and in so doing, they often miss vital information. For example, many MD experts do not review the nursing records and often it’s the nursing notes that shed the most light on what really happened to the patient. Always review the records completely and look for discrepancies in documentation by different providers.
9. If you were hired by the plaintiff attorney, look at the case from the defendant’s viewpoint. (What are the defenses or rationales in this case?) If you were hired by the defense attorney, look at the case from the plaintiff’s viewpoint. (What went wrong, if anything? Could anything have been done differently? Were any standards of care or practice guidelines breached?)

Efficiency Saves You Time and Saves Your Client Money

10. Don’t organize the medical records before you screen and you will save valuable time in the initial review process. If organizing the records is necessary before screening, do not organize them for comprehensive review and analysis, but organize only with the objective of making screening easier.
11. Do not do a formal report during the screening stage – just complete the screening form to facilitate communicating your opinion clearly and concisely. More comprehensive reports are only indicated once you have communicated your screening opinion and both you and the attorney agree that a comprehensive review and analysis of the medical records is indicated.
12. Access relevant healthcare references as needed while you are reviewing but don’t overdo it at this stage. Unless you need some piece of information before you can move on, make a list of topics to search on the Internet and do all your searching at once. This will keep you focused as you read through the record. Narrow your searches to match the factors in your particular case (e.g., octogenarian, female, femur fracture, mortality). Be sure to research any articles and publications authored by all the relevant players in the case.
13. Consider subcontracting the screening if the issues are outside your area of expertise. Make the decision to subcontract quickly, then act on it. Don’t wait until you need a CLNC^® subcontractor to try to find one. Develop a pool of CLNC^® subcontractors who are ready to respond to your needs. All successful CLNC^® consultants know what they don’t know and wisely tap the expertise of their peers.
14. Use a magnifying glass (buy the best one you can afford) so you can read those little squiggles and impress the attorney with your knowledge of hieroglyphics. You may determine the outcome of the case by being able to decipher something illegible to the average eye.
15. Keep a calendar of the year in question close by. Look for weekends and holidays when short staffing is common.
16. Pay particular attention when operative notes, admission history and physicals, discharge summaries and autopsy reports are dictated and transcribed. If an unusually long period of time elapsed between the event and the transcription, note that for future consideration.

Use these 16 strategies to make screening medical-related cases one of your most popular and satisfying CLNC^® services. Keep your attorney-clients coming back for more.

Success Is Inside!

Everyone knows that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant knows at least one CLNC^® consultant, if not more. If you’ve attended one of our CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Seminars, you’ve made lifelong CLNC^® friends. When you attend the NACLNC^® Annual Conference, you reconnect with CLNC^® consultants from all over the country. But all too often you only do it for those short periods of time. Not everyone capitalizes on their connections to make a strong chain or develop a mini-network.

In this information/communication-driven world of Facebook^®, Twitter^®, Skype^® and the Internet, the only thing holding you back is the lack of a plan. Given the myriad ways we can communicate these days there is nothing, and I mean nothing, stopping any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant from setting up their own CLNC^® Connection Chain (or “CCC” for short).

Set up your CCC in 5 easy steps:

1. Use Darwinian Selection. From your certified, but not certifiable, colleagues pick 5-8 other CLNC^® consultants you respect, who have different specialties than your own and who are in different parts of the country. This is Link 1 in your CCC.
2. Facebook’em Danno. Next, set up your own private group on Facebook and send an invite to each of the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants you’ve identified and ask them to join your group. You now have the second link in your CCC, a place where you and the CLNC^® members of your group can communicate freely and network with each other that doesn’t require any special skill. Remember to set your privacy settings to keep others from seeing your group’s discussions. CCC Link 2 is complete.
3. Get Yourself a Glam-Cam. Your next step is to go out and spend less than $60 and buy a USB web cam with embedded microphone for your computer (unless you’re lucky enough to have an Apple^® laptop or iMac with one built in). Install the camera. (Tom installed mine and claims it’s so simple even a caveman can do it.) Then sign up for the free version of Skype. This will allow you to have weekly video conferences in pairs or in groups with your CCC members. It’s much more fun than telephone conferences and much more rewarding in terms of retying the connections with the other CCCers. You can also use this to check in with your hi-tech attorney-clients. Link 3 checked off.
4. Tweet Like a Tweety-Bird. Join Twitter but be sure to protect your “tweets.” Protecting your tweets allows only those Twitter members you specifically approve to see your tweets. You can still follow Ashton Kutcher, but your tweets will only be seen by those you approve to view them. Use the initiation function of Twitter to send email invitations to your list of CLNC^® colleagues. If you have a texting plan for your smart phone, turn on the mobile tweets function of Twitter and select only those people in your group to update you via cell phone. You can read the rest of the twitterers using Tweetdeck or on Twitter. This way you’ll get texts of important updates from your CCC. Use Twitter to schedule your Skype calls, update your CCC on new attorney-clients or just to tell them what you’re doing. Link 4 in place.
5. Meet Up to Keep Up. When you attend the NACLNC^® Annual Conference, plan on flying in at least two days early to brainstorm with your CCC members. You’ll want to meet before the conference to get your face-to-face time in with your CCC members. Focus on learning from your group and grab new ideas for your legal nurse consulting business so you can rock back and enjoy the conference. Link 5 done and your CLNC^® Connection Chain is ready to pay off big!

Now put your CLNC^® Connection Chain to use. Set accountable and measurable objectives, and share them with your CLNC^® chain members. When you complete an objective, send out a tweet. Schedule at least two Skype calls a month so that everyone can update each other on the steps they’ve taken towards their accountable objectives. Research shows that being accountable to others for the action steps in your strategic plan help you implement them. Celebrate each others’ successes and brainstorm over what went well and what didn’t. This is your private brain trust, exclusive board of directors and personal planning committee – make use of them!

A CLNC^® Connection Chain is a great way to make sure your legal nurse consulting business succeeds. Here’s my challenge to Certified Legal Nurse Consultants – set up your own CCC and put it to the test for 60 days. I’ll be waiting to hear from you when you share with all of us how your CCC has helped your legal nurse consulting business.

Success Is Inside!