Take advantage of the early bird registration
through May 31, 2012!

Speakers:
 

Forensic Toxicology for the LNC: Interpretation of Urine and Blood Data
David Benjamin, Ph.D.

Master Case Development to Secure Repeat Business:
A Case Study from Start-to-Finish
Rachel Cartwright-Vanzant, RN, MS, CNS, LHRM, FNC, LNCC
Ms. Cartwright-Vanzant has over 29 years of clinical, management and consulting experience. Rachel is a legal nurse consultant certified (LNCC), a licensed healthcare risk manager (LHRM) and holds a forensic nurse certificate (FNC). In addition to owning a medical and legal consulting business, she is currently enrolled in the Public Policy and Administration: Law and Policy PhD Program at Walden University. Rachel’s nursing experience includes work in critical care, renal transplant, dialysis and open-heart surgery recovery. She was the President of the South Florida AALNC Chapter (2010-2012) and has been an expert witness for medical negligence cases. She is a published author in textbooks and peer reviewed journals and continues to speak nationally on other healthcare related topics.

 

LNCs & Attorneys: Partners in Defense of Toxic Tort Litigation
Linda J. Fagan, RN
Nicholas I. McDonald, Esquire

Linda J. Fagan, R.N., Founder and Principal of MedicaLegal Solutions, has been providing medical consulting to the legal community since 1999. Her expertise in this field developed through a broad base of education, 35 years of varied clinical nursing experience, mentoring and more than 13 years as a practicing Legal Nurse Consultant. Currently, Linda works with the law office of Cetrulo & Capone LLP, in Boston. As Legal Nurse Consultant, she analyzes medical issues in the context of the applicable legal standards and plays a supportive role to the Toxic Tort Group in the delivery of high quality legal services. 

Nicholas I. McDonald is an associate attorney with the law firm of Cetrulo & Capone in Boston. NIck practices in the area of toxic tort, product liability, and insurance defense. He also has experience in the area of employment law, secured lending transactions, medical malpractice, and personal injury law. Nick began working with Cetrulo & Capone as an undergraduate at Northeastern University. He graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 2007. Nick assists in coordination of the Massachusetts Asbestos Litigation docket in Cetrulo & Capone's capacity as Defendants' Liaison Counsel. In addition, he assists in the coordination of the MMSEA compliance issues in the Massachusetts Asbestos Litigation.

 

The LNC as Nurse Life Care Planner:  Expanding and Diversifying
Linda Husted, RN, MPH, CNLCP, LNCC, CCM, CDMS, CRC
Linda Husted is president of Husted Life Care Planning, Inc. located in Long Island, New York. She provides life care plans from pediatric to geriatric for individuals with head injury, spinal cord injury, multiple trauma, amputation, chronic pain and burns. She provides life care plans for both plaintiff and defense. She served as Treasurer of the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners in the past and is currently a member of the Editorial Committee for the Journal of Nurse Life Care Planning. She graduated from Mount Vernon Hospital School of Nursing, has a BS in Health Education and Master of Public Health (MPH). She holds five national certifications.

 

Pearls and Pitfalls of LNC Billing
Patricia Iyer RN, MSN, LNCC
Ms. Iyer is president of Med League Support Services, Inc., a legal nurse consulting firm that was established in 1989 in Flemington, NJ. (www.medleague.com) Ms. Iyer been testifying as an expert witness for 20 years. She is the editor or coauthor of 26 books. Her most recent books include The Path to Legal Nurse Consulting: The Collective Wisdom of Successful LNCs, coedited with Alice Adams, and Safeguard your Ambulatory Care Nursing Practice.  She earned her MSN from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She is certified as a legal nurse consultant from the American Association of Legal Nurse Consulting. Elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, she completed a five year term in 2003, including one year as president of the Association. She served a two year term as the chair of the Education Committee of the AALNC and was the chief editor of the AALNC core curriculum, Principles and Practices of Legal Nurse Consulting, Second Edition, and AALNC’s online legal nurse consulting course. See www.patiyer.com.

 

Clinical Emergencies and the Legal Nurse Consultant
Barbara J. Levin, BSN RN ONC CMSRN LNCC
Barbara Levin, RN BSN ONC CMSRN LNCC is the Clinical Scholar of the orthopaedic trauma unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.  The Massachusetts Governor has just appointed Barbara to the Massachusetts Board of Nursing.  Barbara has also been named the National Director of Orthopaedic Nursing (2012-2015).  In addition, she has published and lectured extensively about patient safety, orthopaedics, and documentation practices.  Barbara Levin co-edited and authored chapters for the books Medical Legal Aspects of Medical Records and Nursing Malpractice.  Ms. Levin served as President of the AALNC and also served on its board for five years. During her term on the board, she chaired the committees tasked with developing and writing Legal Nurse Consulting: Scope & Standards of Practice and the AALNC position statement The Specialty Practice of Legal Nurse Consulting.  Ms. Levin is a Legal Nurse Consultant Certified. Barbara’s work includes working with hospitals to achieve JC in hip and knee replacements.

 

Perils of the Electronic Medical Record
Lisa A. Mancuso, BSN, RN, PCCN, CCRN
Lisa Mancuso has been a staff nurse for 29 years with experience in cardiology, nephrology, and critical care. She is a past recipient of the MNA Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice. She developed the Cardiology Collaborative Group at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and worked with the Center for Case Management to design CareMaps for the cardiac population at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. Most recently, she has been a member of the Informatics Core Team for the Steward Healthcare Network. This involved the design, build, and implementation of the network’s EMR, including end-user training and “Go Live” support.

 

How Can I Use Today’s Technology to My Advantage?
M. Thomas (Tom) Quail, RN, MS Ed, NREMT-B
Tom Quail has a background in Emergency Medicine that spans over 30 years. He has been an Emergency Medical technician (EMT) for 37 years, a Registered Nurse (RN) for 29 years, and a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) for 10 years. From 2000-2009, Tom used his LNC skills while working as the clinical coordinator for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH)- Office of Emergency Medical Services. He investigated licensing complaints against ambulance services and EMTs regarding patient care issues. Tom currently reviews and conducts research via medical records reviews with the DPHs’ Bureau of Environmental Health with regard to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Tom also provides continuing education lectures to Nurses and EMTs in pre-hospital emergency medicine, forensics, and toxicology. He has published articles in the field of Emergency Medicine, Forensic Science, Law Enforcement, and Toxicology.

 

How Serious is the Problem of Patient Falls?
Pina Violano, RN-BC, MSPH, CCRN, PhD (c)
Pina Violano is the Injury Prevention Coordinator for Yale-New Haven Hospital’s (YNHH) Trauma Department, where she develops injury prevention strategies on a local, state and national level. She has also collaborated with the city of New Haven on the Street Smarts Pedestrian Safety Initiative. Pina has received the 2011 Child Passenger Safety Technician of the Year Award, Marie Hippensteel Lingeman Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice, 40 under Forty Award, CPR Excellence Award, and YNHH Nurse of the Year Award. Pina earned an AD and BSN from Quinnipiac College and a MS in Public Health from SCSU. She is currently completing her doctorate in Public Health. Her past nursing experience includes PICU, pediatric catheterization lab, ER, and nursing education.

  

Panel #1:  Finding the First LNC Case

Marjorie Berg Pugatch, BSN, RN, MA, EMT-B, LNCC
Marjorie Berg Pugatch has been a legal nurse consultant since 1998 at Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles, LLP, a major insurance defense firm in the New York metropolitan area. She is also the founder of Precision Legal Nurse Consulting, an independent consulting entity. She provides litigation support in the areas of medical malpractice, personal injury, toxic tort and medically related criminal cases. She has been a member of AALNC since 1998 and served on AALNC’s Awareness Committee. She received a BSN from Syracuse University and an MA from New York University. She is a volunteer EMT-B at Rescue Hook and Ladder Co. #1 of Roslyn, New York and is also a member of Nassau County Medical Reserve Corps. She is a Legal Nurse Consultant Certified.


Rachel Cartwright-Vanzant, RN, MS, CNS, LHRM, FNC, LNCC

Laura Grossman Nissim RN, MS, CNS, LNCC
Laura G. Nissim has practiced since 1979 in a variety of pediatric settings, from intensive care to rehabilitation in a number of hospitals in the New York area. She began working as an LNC independently approximately 6 years ago, following course work as a paralegal and then the Legal Nurse Consultant program at PACE University School of Nursing, while working in a community nursing environment. In August 2005 Laura began working full time for a large defense firm with offices across the country and overseas. She received national (LNCC) certification in October 2006. Laura works on and reviews information in a variety of areas including product liability, professional liability, medical malpractice and legal malpractice litigation. She also works part time as Adjunct Clinical Faculty for the Undergraduate program of the School of Nursing at Sacred Heart University.

Jane D. Heron, RN, BSN, MBA, LNCC

Rosale Lobo, MSN, RN, CNS, LNCC
Rosale Lobo RN, MSN, CNS, LNCC has been a legal nurse consultant since 2003. She holds a BSN from Long Island University, an MSN from Hunter College, and is currently enrolled in the doctoral program at Walden University’s School of Public Policy and Healthcare Administration: Health Care. Rosale has extensive clinical, managerial and academic experience. While clinically active, Rosale served as an expert witness and now works with plaintiff medical malpractice and insurance attorneys behind the scene. Rosale is a national speaker with topics that include nursing documentation, diabetes, and facility specific topic requests. She is published in various venues and has just completed her first book entitled “Guilty or Innocent, Protecting Your License Through Proper Nursing Documentation”(Release Date May 2012). 


Betsy Todd, RN, MPH, CIC
Betsy has been a nurse for more than 35 years. She has practiced in a variety of clinical settings, served as adjunct instructor at Hunter College School of Nursing of the City University of New York, and lectured widely throughout the U.S. in both clinical and health policy forums. (As one of the first nurse members of Physicians for a National Health Program, her work on this issue predates the Clinton initiative.) For ten years, Betsy wrote the clinical pharmacology column for Geriatric Nursing, and she is the former Contributing Editor for Emerging Infections at the American Journal of Nursing, where she continues to publish. As a nurse epidemiologist since 1999, her practice has ranged from “routine” infection control work to the investigation of major outbreaks. Betsy now divides her time between hospital infection control and legal nurse consulting.

 

Panel #2:  Alternative Roles for the LNC

Linda Fagan, RN (toxic tort)


Linda Husted, RN, MPH, CNLCP, LNCC, CCM, CDMS, CRC (life care planning)


Patricia Iyer, MSN, RN, LNCC (pain & suffering reports)


Barbara Levin, BSN, RN, ONC, CMSRN, LNCC (mediation)


M. Thomas (Tom) Quail, RN, MS Ed, NREMT-B (state licensing agencies)

 

Conference Planning Committee:

Mary-Ann Abramczyk, MSN, RN, CSTR, CLNC (conference chair) (CT)

Marjorie Berg Pugatch, RN, MA, EMT-B, LNCC (NY)

Julie Dickinson, BSN, RN, MBA, LNCC (CT)

Jane D. Heron, RN, BSN, MBA, LNCC (NJ)

Barbara J. Levin, BSN, RN, ONC, CMSRN, LNCC (MA)

Rosale Lobo, MSN, RN, CNS, LNCC (CT)

Betsy Todd, RN, MPH, CIC (NY)