This session is for LNCs interested in honing their interviewing skills. The speakers will discuss the different roles available to nurses working in the legal arena and how to prepare for them so they can demonstrate confidence in interviewing for various LNC roles. They will cover interviewing for expert witness roles and in-house LNC roles, and an attorney will share what attorneys are looking for. The session will be interactive, with opportunities to engage with the faculty in a panel discussion to ask questions and clarify the content they presented for application to one's own LNC practice

Legal Nurse Consultants may have a limited understanding of: 1) the differences between knowing your subject matter and being able to powerfully communicate that, 2) how non-verbal communication influences your overall communication, and 3) how to explain complex concepts.  This session will help LNC to bridge the gap from their expertise to being an influential “expert” on the stand or in deposition. The speaker will help the LNC better identify what the trier of fact is looking for, how best to engage them. and how to communicate their expertise.

Legal Nurse Consultants often struggle to conduct in-depth medical record analysis or identify systemic failures, impacting case outcomes. Desired State: Legal Nurse Consultants will enhance their medical record analysis skills and identify systemic gaps, leading to better case preparation and improved healthcare practices. 

Printed medical records cannot be taken at face value as they are often incomplete and do not provide the entire picture of care and treatment provided.  LNCs and attorneys often rely upon the printed version of EMRs without obtaining audit data and performing a live inspection. This session will help LNCs to better be able to understand the importance of audit data and live inspections, be able to assist with discovery, and analyze the produced data.

Are you starting your LNC business? Or maybe you’ve been an LNC for some time and have never heard of these business planning techniques. Attendees will learn the building blocks of starting their business plan including financial considerations and essential agreements that should be in place.  LNCs are faced with many decisions in setting up their practice without definitive guidance.  In this session nurse attorney Richard Bays will help LNC's understand how to develop a framework for setting up and organizing their practice.

Vascular surgery is an intense practice that involves the evaluation, assessment, repair, and possibly reconstruction of the arterial and venous structures in the human body. Vascular surgeons are also asked to assess limb viability and remove limbs when they're not salvageable. The most common aspects of vascular surgery that result in legal action include peripheral interventions (open and endovascular), cerebrovascular disease, and aortic surgery. This session will briefly touch on the issues surrounding each of these treatment areas and provide pointers for nurse reviewers when examining legal cases.

Many beginning legal nurses do not know how to best present themselves when trying to become a subcontractor and likely the new business owner has questions regarding growing their business as well as hiring subcontractors. Many legal nurses do not appreciate the steps to take to grow their business as well as how to best present themselves to become successful subcontractors. This session will help legal nurse consultants learn how to incorporate new skills to grow their business as well as identify best practices to become hired as subcontractors.

Surgical positioning injuries such as nerve damage, pressure ulcers, and muscle ischemia are prevalent due to improper use of positioning equipment and inadequate patient assessments. These issues are particularly pronounced in obese and pediatric patients, who require specific positioning techniques to prevent injury. Legal Nurse Consultants are not aware of the multitude of surgical positioning injuries that can occur due to improper use of positioning equipment and inadequate patient assessments, which is particularly pronounced in obese and pediatric patients. This session will help LNCs better understand the causes and pathophysiology associated with surgical positioning injuries and the medico-legal risks from these injuries. 

Legal Nurse Consultants need to understand the legal implications surrounding standard of care for surveillance, diagnosis and treatment algorithms for popliteal artery aneurysms. Most medical providers do not understand the complexities in work up of popliteal artery aneurysms and such lead to missed diagnosis, thrombosis and ruptures and how that pertains to medical legal practice. Dr. Lavingia will help LNCs better be able to review popliteal artery cases and understand if standard of care for diagnosis and treatment was followed in an appropriate fashion. 

LNCs may have a limited understanding of how to handle deposition and cross-examination.  This session will help the LNC to begin bridging the gap from nursing expertise to being an influential “expert” on the stand or in deposition. The speaker will help the LNC identify and master the unique “rules” of depositions and how to master dealing with the stress of cross-examination. 

Identifying the mechanisms of injury and associated wounds are vital to accurate evaluation and analysis of cases involving traumatic injury.  LNCs are asked to review medical records related to injuries and should be able to identify wound characteristics and mechanism of the injury.  Accurate, or inaccurate, identification and interpretation of such wounds can impact case outcomes. LNCs have difficulty determining the mechanism of injury when evaluating wounds related to cases that involve trauma because of a lack of knowledge which can affect the outcome of the case. In this session, the speakers will help LNCs learn how to incorporate the identification of wounds and the mechanism of injury into their case evaluations, which will improve their analysis accuracy. 

Nerve injuries are common in all areas of the hospital and the prevention and recognition are lacking. LNCs have limited knowledge of the extent of nerve injuries. In this session LNCs will gain the ability to recognize and prevent injuries and better be able to review documentation for cases involving peripheral nerve injuries with some expertise.

It is taxing for professional coders and auditors to stay current and the Legal Nurse consultant is already inundated with new medical and nursing care data. Clear data sources and methodology for getting the answers to provider charge evaluation are the tools for success. This session will help the LNC be able to choose appropriate tools and methodology for examining the value of medical services in terms of Usual, Customary, and Reasonableness.

A significant number of malpractice cases arise from the emergency setting. LNCs may have a limited knowledge of the nuances involved in emergency care and can greatly benefit from a structured approach to reviewing ER cases to make informed decisions regarding the standard of care. In this session, Dr. Kukoyi will share knowledge with LNCs to assist them to better be able to thoroughly assess ER cases and make sound evidence-based decisions when assessing claims.

Patients undergoing breast cancer-related surgery require education and tools that are not being delivered by most providers. RNs and LNCs have a limited understanding of various types of breast surgeries, associated complications, and the tools and education required to best care for patients. The speaker will use this session to help LNCs fill the gaps in knowledge and practice to better care for patients and identify gaps in SOC when reviewing records.

Legal Nurse Consultants have a deficit in understanding in interpreting medical documentation. There is implicit bias within documentation permeating subsequent patient/client interactions.  This session will help the LNC better understand and interpret medical record documentation without implicit bias affecting patient/client interactions.