Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant Joins The Greater Augusta Chapter Of The American Association Of Legal Nurse Consultants, Attends "Standards Of Care" Presentation

Atlanta, GA – Liz Buddenhagen, RN, has joined the Greater Augusta Chapter of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) as a new member at the October 22, 2009 meeting. She was sponsored by Vickie Gibbs, RN, LNC.

Buddenhagen, who is certified by the National Association of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (NACLNC), said she is pleased to join the professional legal nurses of this dynamic AALNC chapter.

The Augusta Chapter has a two fold mission:
• To provide support to the legal nurse consultant community through education, networking and dissemination of information.
• To provide education and information about the role of a legal nurse consultant to the public in the greater Augusta area.

The website can be found at www.aalnc-augusta-ga.com.

Buddenhagen says she will continue to connect with the Atlanta Chapter of the AALNC also.

About the Meeting:

Sierra Gollan, MS, RN, spoke to the group regarding 'Evidence Based Practice and Standards of Care.' Gollan compared the nursing concept of standards of care with the legal concept of the standards of care (SOC):

Nursing: 'Standards of Care are not static because of the generation of new knowledge and rapidly advancing technology that affects nursing practice.' Laduke, 2003.

Legal: 'Term used to designate what is accepted and reasonable. It is that degree of skill, care and judgment used by an ordinary prudent health care provider under similar circumstances.' Iyer, Eds. 2003.

Gollan defined Evidence Based Practice as 'It is a problem solving approach to clinical practice that integrates a systematic search for and critical appraisal of the most relevant evidence to answer a burning clinical question, one's own clinical expertise and patient preferences and values.' Melnjk, 2005.

'Continuing education of the nurse is key in maintaining the standards of care' said Gollan.

About Liz Buddenhagen:

Liz Buddenhagen, registered nurse, is the owner and founder of Buddenhagen & Associates, an Atlanta legal nurse consulting firm. The firm assists Atlanta attorneys with the medical issues of their legal cases by providing reviews, organizing records, creating timelines, researching medical literature, preparing Medicare Set-Asides, working up medical cost projections and locating expert witnesses. For more information view website at www.Legal-Nurse-Consultant-LNC.com, email at Liz@BuddenhagenLNC.com or call 770-725-2997.

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