When people ask how I got into legal nurse consulting, they often assume the answer starts with medicine or law. There’s a decent amount of medical and legal professionals who’s gotten into their field due to personal experiences in the medical system, after all. But for me, it started with my family.
Before founding Red Rose Legal Nurse Consulting, I spent years working as a registered nurse in high-acuity healthcare settings, including the medical ICU. I loved critical care nursing. I loved the challenge of caring for complex patients, thinking through difficult clinical situations, and working alongside an incredible team during some of the most vulnerable moments in a person's life. Every shift required problem-solving, attention to detail, and the ability to quickly connect pieces of information to make sound clinical decisions. It was challenging, meaningful work, and I truly enjoyed it. Genuinely, nothing interested me other than the ICU. When I floated to med surg or a stepdown unit, I was bored. I firmly believed I would work in the ICU for my entire nursing career.
Then God presented me the gift of three beautiful children.
My life turned upside down in all the ways I didn’t believe possible. I went from leading a night shift weekend crew of nurses and training new nurses to wondering if I’d have enough brain cells left to make dinner after changing diapers and rocking colicky babies. We were blessed with twin girls first an then a third boy two years later.
It was a whirlwind to say the least. Never have I ever experienced such tremendous love for three tiny people - and such humbling exhaustion and sanctification. The job that I had focused so much of my energy and passion on swiftly became second to that of motherhood.
And along with that swift pendulum swing came a tough decision.
My husband is a firefighter, which means he works a goofy rotating day/ night shift schedule. Like many families with two careers that involve shift work, we found ourselves constantly juggling schedules and responsibilities. There were days when it felt like we were simply passing each other in the doorway. Between opposite schedules and the demands of raising young children, we had to take a hard look at what kind of family life we wanted. We knew we couldn’t afford nor did we want to rely on childcare, and more importantly, we wanted to be present for our children during these early years.
At some point, I had to ask myself a difficult question: Could I continue pursuing the bedside career I loved while also being the wife and mother I wanted to be?
The answer was painful, but it was clear: No.
So I stepped away from bedside nursing to focus on raising my family.
To be clear, I have never regretted that decision. Being a mother is one of the greatest blessings of my life. Watching my children grow, being present for the everyday moments, and building a life centered around family has been incredibly rewarding.
At the same time, leaving the ICU felt like leaving a part of myself behind. My community was wrapped up in that job. I had spent more time with my coworkers than my husband before we had kids so my coworkers felt like a second family. Plus, I genuinely loved caring for critically ill patients.
I missed helping people. I missed the intellectual challenge. I missed putting my clinical knowledge and critical-thinking skills to work every day. After spending years analyzing patient conditions, reviewing data, and identifying subtle but important details, I realized I wasn't ready to stop using those skills. I just needed to find a different way to use them.
That's when I discovered legal nurse consulting.
The more I learned about the profession, the more it felt like the perfect fit. Legal nurse consulting allowed me to continue doing what I loved while creating the flexibility my family needed. Instead of analyzing patient charts to guide treatment decisions, I could analyze medical records to help attorneys understand the facts of a case. Instead of piecing together a patient's clinical picture in the ICU, I could piece together the medical story hidden inside thousands of pages of documentation.
What surprised me most was how similar the work feels.
As an ICU nurse, I learned to identify critical events, recognize patterns, spot inconsistencies, and determine what information truly mattered. Today, I use those same skills while reviewing records for attorneys. The setting has changed, but the mindset remains the same. Every case tells a story, and my job is to help uncover it.
It was a job that I fell into. I never expected to be as passionate about other fields of nursing outside of the ICU, but I’ve since been proven wrong. This work fills my cup. I am truly excited to work with attorney clients and nurses like you every day.
