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The Career Opportunities in the Nursing field are no longer just your general nursing positions. Nursing is no longer “just a shot in the arm” or the plain ‘ole school nurse, nor does the field mean you must wear a white mini skirt. There are excellent opportunities for nurses in the “forensic” areas as well as the “legal” fields.

Legal Nurse Consulting – Nursing has moved into the “legal” field in the role of “Legal Nurse Consulting”. Legal Nurse Consultants can use their knowledge and expertise in the medical field added alongside their knowledge and expertise in the legal field in order to specialize as a Legal Nurse Consultant. Legal Nurse Consultants are thought to be a new specialty; however nurses have been doing legal consulting for decades. This field has become more and more prominent in the last ten to fifteen years. Many nurses have chosen full-time private practice and the demand for their services has risen. It has been noted that lawsuits are on the rise and nurses look for alternatives to the typical bedside nursing careers. Nurses’ specialized experience, knowledge, and training are highly regarded and respected in the legal arena.

The Legal Nurse Consultants not only provide their variety of services such as reviewing records to identify standards of care, conduct research and summarize medical literature, identify and apply regulatory requirements, educate attorneys about medical issues, assist with depositions and trials, and screen initial cases to see if they have merit, but they also can testify in a court of law as well as testify as an expert witness on such cases the consultant has worked on. As an example, the consultant may work on personal injury cases, criminal cases, toxic torts, product liabilities as well as large class-action suits. The consultants work may vary according to their interests and backgrounds. Every case is different, thus never a dull moment.

If a nurse is considering in specializing in the legal field, it is highly recommended that he/she research the field prior to diving into this new field. It is also important that the new consultant have at least three months of income saved in order to enable the consultant to concentrate in starting their own business, if such is desired, and well thought out marketing of their new business. Many consultants have started working part time when they are first getting started and then switch to full-time once they have built a client base, according to the AALNC (American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants). The consultants do work on an hourly set fee which may range from $60 to $150 an hour for independent legal nurse consultants, while salaries for LNC’s who work for employers are comparable to nursing salaries in a clinical setting. Legal nurse consultants must be licensed registered nurses and it is also recommended that they have at least three years of nursing experience. In addition to their marketing strategies, doing volunteer work through the local bar association is a good way to get to know and network with attorneys. They can be trained and certified as a Legal Nurse Consultant through the AALNC or other educational programs; however certification is not mandatory. As in any other business, your own personal success lies within you. Your goals, of course, depend on your personal wants, needs, and tenacity. As any business entrepreneur, you will need to strategize your marketing plan which can be challenging, but is part of your personal success. Needless to say, legal nurse consulting is not for everyone. In order for a consultant to succeed in this specialty, one must be a self-starter, strong communicator and have highly tuned critical and analytical thinking skills. If you think about it though, these attributes I have listed are really the making of any successful professional, regardless of your choice of field.

Forensic Nursing – Another excellent choice of specialized field for nurses is “Forensic Nursing”. When most people hear the term “forensic”, they immediately think of your typical ideal of the word and think of maybe the County Morgue. Forensic nursing is an exciting career that combines nursing with detective work and criminal law. The position requires a tremendous amount of researching as well as investigating. One of many of the positions that a forensic nurse can be working in is as a “Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)”. Such a forensic nurse would ensure that evidence is collected appropriately and can be used in a court of law. Forensic nursing is relatively a new field that combines the health care profession with the judicial system. The International Association of Forensic Nursing (IAFN) held its first international certification exam in April of 2002. While certification is not mandatory in order to work as a forensic nurse, it is believed that it does give added credibility. Credibility is in fact important because one of the key parts of the forensic nurse’s role, in addition to their performance of comprehensive exams in the hospital, is to give testimony in court.

The legal court system has begun to recognize the expertise of forensic nurse examiners and is beginning to be qualified as experts. When testifying in court, forensic nurses can be qualified as either an expert witness, who would allow them to give his or her opinion, or a fact witness, which would allow them to state the facts only. The forensic nurses are presented by the prosecutor in the courtroom, when they are to testify. When testifying at trials, they are there to present information in an objective manner and not speak for or against the victim or the defendant. The forensic nurse is there to present the facts of the examination they performed.

It offers tremendous opportunities for both recent graduates and experienced registered nurses looking for a career change. It is believed, that there is also a strong need for better minority representation in this field. Statistics show that approximately 50% of the victims treated are African American and approximately 20% are Latina. It is believed that such minority victims may be more apt to report the sexual crimes they have experienced if they were aware that the forensic nurses that will examine them are of their own race; thus, they may feel more comfortable in seeking medical assistance.

Forensic nurses can help more than just rape victims. Although much of the focus of forensic nursing is on the sexual assault, forensic nurses are not limited to working on just these types of cases. Many nurses work with victims of interpersonal abuse, including domestic violence, child and elder abuse/neglect and physiological/psychological abuses. Forensic nurses can also examine victims of near-fatal or fatal traumas, such as shootings or stabbings, or possibly even as death investigators.

You must know when to draw the line between being an empathetic nurse and being there to do your job – to collect your evidence. In cases of stabbings or shootings, forensic nurses collect such evidence as bullets and any debris that is on the body, such as leaves that may have clung to the body from the crime scene. The nurse is also in charge of removing the bloody clothes the victim was wearing and putting them in a special wrapping in order to conserve the item. The nurses may also photograph and measure wounds. If the victim has died, the forensic nurse examiner will often collaborate with the medical examiner assigned to the case, answer any questions the medical examiner may have with regards to what the nurse may have seen during the exam. A nurse wanting to move into the forensic nursing field, would have to their advantage to have emergency room nursing experience.

Not only is it an exciting and rewarding career, their demand is rapidly rising. Forensic nurses are even being incorporated into the emergency room setting now. Previously, hospitals felt that any nurse could collect evidence; however, a forensic nurse will have the knowledge and the expertise of what evidence should be collected and how to preserve the evidence so that it is not accidentally destroyed; thus, a more positive outcome in the courtroom in catching the criminal.

As a registered nurse, as in any other career of your choice, it is good to know what your career options may be. As a registered nurse is good to have a list of all of the different types of nursing positions that you have available to select from, depending on what may work best for you. I feel it is very important that you are aware, that in addition to the many opportunities you have available to you, as a nurse, you now also have available the positions of Forensic Nursing or Legal Nurse Consulting and what each of the two career’s job descriptions entail.

by: Deborah S. Hildebrand

Despite the economy, career opportunities in health care and nursing are booming. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as recently as 2006, the health care field was the largest in the U.S., offering approximately 14 million jobs as well as seven of the 20 fastest growing occupations.

The following details how to get a career in this in-demand field.

Certification and On-the-Job Training Options

One interesting fact about the health care field is that many positions require less than a four-year degree, in fact some of the fastest growing health care jobs require little or no specialized education. Careers including nursing and home health aides as well as medical and dental assistants get their training on the job or through a certificate program.

Undergraduate Career Options

Undergraduate degrees offer even more nursing and health care career options. Along with traditional careers such as registered nursing, social work and occupational therapy, there are new trends opening in the field of health care. For instance, RNs who might want to follow a different career could consider becoming a certified legal nurse consultant (CLNC). CLNCs assist attorneys with medical issues. Another new job trend is medical illustration. Medical illustrators use their knowledge of human science and medical concepts to create educational materials for publications and journals and can earn as much $75,000 annually.

Higher Education Career Options

Naturally, higher education offers opportunities for surgeons, psychiatrists, cardiologists and other doctors. However, if medical school isn’t your thing, getting a higher education in the health care field offers a variety of other lucrative positions. Genetics, for instance, is a health care field that offers unique and in-demand jobs. Such jobs include behavioral geneticists, who solve health problems by identifying gene-related therapies, and genetics counseling, which involves informing and supporting families who have members with birth defects or genetic disorders.

A very simple explanation behind this phenomenon is the life expectancy of humans. You read it right! World Health Organization has declared that that the life expectancy has increased to 80! Therefore we can expect more people getting old that would need medical attention. Though the demand for doctors are highly in demand we still can not expect the needs will be met. The reality we are facing now is the fact that only few families can send their child to a medical school and not every family can support their kid’s college education! This is why the demand for medical professionals are hardly being met. Based on these facts all types of Doctors needs an assistant to help them to make the job faster so that more patients can be attended to. With all the hospitals and medical centres in the world that have limited number of doctors, the more patients suffer. If you want to be a part of health and medical practitioners but don’t have the means to be a doctor, you may want to consider a medical assistant job as an alternative. You can also consider the fact that a medical assistant salary wouldn’t be so bad at all especially if you’re a doctor’s assistant.

Being a medical assistant is like being a nurse. The job nurses do is not so different but of course as a nurse they are more into providing intensive assistance to doctors when it comes to clinical procedures. The main job of a medical assistant is to take and record the patients’ vital signs, maintain medical records as well as medical history of all the patients of the doctor he/she is working for, take care of appointment setting and insurance filing. When it comes to clinical duties they would have to know how to draw blood from patients, prepare patients for laboratory check-up and medicine administration instructed by the doctor. The job may require a lot of duties to be performed but a medical assistant salary will surely pay off all the hard work. The truth is, all the tasks that should be done to assist a doctor wouldn’t be so hard to do, all it takes is a little getting used to. This type of job pays around ten dollars up to fifteen dollars per hour, is that still bad? I don’t think so, in fact the pay is quite good!
The work entitles you to provide your service or help to those who are need and you get compensated nicely, isn’t that fulfilling?

The annual medical assistant salary ranges from $22,000 up to $31,500 but will surely increase as the demand sky rockets in the next few years. This work can also help you aim for a higher position or get promoted as a medical office manager and take home approximately $46,000 per year. As the demand for doctors increase the need for medical assistants got higher too. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars just to have a career in the medical industry! Be smart and practical! Get yourself certified as a medical assistant and fulfill your dreams of having a good career that gives a medical assistant salary worth having a good life.

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Certified Nursing Assistants are often called the backbone of long-term care. They are usually the ones providing a helping hand to nurses throughout many health care facilities. The one’s you can count on for a smile to make it feel more like home.

Certified nursing assistants are also known as nurse’s aides, orderlies, patient care technicians and home health aides – all roles under the supervision of nurses.

In hospitals these helpful assistants are available as needed to provide personal care to patients such as giving showers, baths, providing skin care and personal hygiene. Many hospitals carefully screen and train their nursing assistants in-house in their own education or training departments. This is done through the same department that updates and maintains the quality of all nursing staff skills.

Throughout the health care industry, wherever there is a need for personal care, Certified Nursing Assistants are the ones who, for the most part, perform the most basic needs for patients, young and old alike. In-home certified nursing assistants are available to provide the highest quality of care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Likewise, Veterinary Assistants are as important to veterinary medicine as Certified Nursing Assistants are to human medicine. Most importantly, all of the nursing staff, registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses and certified nursing assistants are committed to and demonstrate a high degree of dedication, devotion and compassion to our residents.

Certified Nursing Assistant is another among the vast array of health care careers available to those seeking a career in the area of direct care giving. Through the years this is a field that has become a vital part of the patient care team. With health care personnel being in short supply as it currently is nursing assistants are in high demand, especially in elder care.

Online Nursing Assistant Schools make sure Certified Nursing Assistants are prepared to be in extensive daily contact with their patients, and are the main providers of all necessary personal care.