Position Statement by the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants

A position statement was made by the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants to establish that registered nurses are the only health care providers that should provide expert testimony related to nursing standards of care.

The profession of nursing is autonomous from the profession of medicine and other allied health disciplines. The profession of nursing has its own educational and licensing requirements which serve to identify registered nurses and, among registered nurses, further identify those with advanced training and certification in their nursing specialty. Nursing has the responsibility and knowledge to define its standards of practice and indeed has published these standards of care. Therefore, licensed registered nurses are competent to address these standards of nursing practice in the litigation arena.

It is the position of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants that when applicable nursing standards need to be established through expert testimony, that the expert shall be a licensed, registered nurse. Further, the only expert competent to testify on clinical and administrative nursing issues is a licensed, registered nurse.

To read the entire statement, please click here: http://www.aalnc.org/d/do/258