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My Heart Beats to "I Am a Successful CLNC®"by Holly Bedgio, RN, CLNC
I found the course fascinating and exhilarating. On my flight home, I wrote a business plan and kept thinking of Vickie's mantra, "I am a successful CLNC®." I couldn't wait to get home. When I got home, my first words to my husband were, "I think I can really do this!" The next night, I had dinner at a neighbor's house. As fate would have it, a partner in a very prestigious medical malpractice law firm with five attorneys was among the guests. He gave me my first case as a legal nurse consultant the very next day! First Case as a Legal Nurse ConsultantI was petrified. My assignment was a complicated plaintiff case against a local healthcare provider regarding care provided over a two-year period. The records were two feet high, and looked like they had been dropped from a three-story building and swept into a box. The attorney-client had instructed me to review the records and prepare a chronological timeline of events. After organizing the medical records, which was a feat in itself, I began my review with the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting® in hand. I felt like I had hit a home run. The case was loaded with deviations from the standards of care, discrepancies and alterations in the medical records, and missing documents. The patient had developed decubitus ulcers and sustained several falls with no documented interventions. In many instances significant changes in condition were not reported to the physician, and the patient eventually became septic and died. When I met with the attorney to discuss my findings, I had butterflies in my stomach, my mouth was dry and my hands were shaking. I flipped through the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting® one last time before walking into the attorney's office and handing him my 20-page report. As he flipped through it, he said, "This looks really good, but I don't have time to read it right now. Just tell me the gist of the case and the strong points in less than 20 words." My first thought was, "If I could do it in 20 words, I wouldn't have written 20 pages." Having to focus my findings into 20 words or less turned out to be even harder than preparing my report, but I did it. Presenting the case in a few words wasn't my only challenge. While I knew the answer to most of the attorney's questions, I had a hard time finding the exact page I needed in my report to make a point. This experience was invaluable to my future success, even though at the time it seemed like a nightmare. My client was teaching me the value of being succinct, precise and organized. Success as a Legal Nurse ConsultantFor the next six months, I worked exclusively with this firm. With each new case, I adapted my reporting style based on my face-to-face meetings with the various attorneys. I designed a format for my timelines that allowed me to find things quickly, and I learned to include a cover page summarizing each case, categorizing deviations from the standards of care and listing bullet point examples of each deviation. This practice allows me to quickly answer questions and provides the attorneys with a snapshot of the case. I now work for more than a dozen large firms throughout Florida. Every client contacted me after either hearing about my work from a colleague or reviewing my work product when a case was transferred. I have more work than I can keep up with. I owe it all to you, Vickie! My heart no longer skips a beat, because it's beating to the tune of "I am a successful CLNC®." Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher and making my career dream of becoming a successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultant come true. Holly Bedgio, RN, CLNC, is a successful legal nurse consultant that focuses on nursing home/ALF litigation, wound care and home healthcare issues, infusion litigation and medical malpractice.    |
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