LNCtips.com: Persuasive Numbers
Nurses are pros when it comes to interpreting numbers. For example, RNs know that these numbers - 62-year-old male, 5'10", 276 pounds, BP 180/114, LDL 192, HDL 36, Triglycerides 521 - indicate a patient who's at risk for an adverse cardiovascular event. Numbers can be persuasive when explaining information to attorneys and juries too. Let's look at a couple examples of using numbers persuasively.
Medical malpractice cases are often complex and difficult for laypersons to grasp. Juries, in particular, often receive huge amounts of complicated information in a very short time. On the other hand, numbers are relatively simple. Everyone knows that eggs are sold by the dozen. Everyone has suffered through a three-day illness. Everyone knows that there are 60 minutes in each hour, 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year.
The trick to using numbers to explain complex concepts is to put the numbers into the context of the case by telling a story. Let's look at a couple of examples. The first is a plaintiff case that involves a patient who developed a large decubitus. Here's one way to use numbers to explain the findings of a case review:
"We know that it's important to turn bedfast patients every two hours to relieve pressure on bony areas and to redistribute the patient's weight. The nursing staff only turned her four times in three days, which contributed to the development of her decubitus."
The numbers listed above are important, but here's a second example in which numbers are used in a more persuasive way.
"The nursing staff attended to this patient for three days, or 72 hours. Since turning every two hours is the standard of care, the nursing staff should have turned the patient 36 times. Instead, they turned her only four times, which contributed to the development of her decubitus."
Can you see that the use of numbers in the second example is much more persuasive than the first? Let's look at another example. In this example, a defense firm retained an LNC to conduct medical research for its client, an internist. The allegation in the case involved delay of diagnosis of non-mesothelial pleural cancer in a young woman. Here's one way to discuss the findings of the LNC review.
"Non-mesothelial pleural cancer is one of the rarest cancers in the United States. In fact, the incidence of this type of cancer is less than one per million per year. It would be difficult for any physician to recognize the signs and symptoms of this type of cancer immediately."
The information presented above is a good argument, but let's add some even more persuasive numbers.
"Assuming that the internist sees 25 patients a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, she sees 6,250 patients a year. If the internist works for 30 years, she will see 187,500 patients during the lifetime of her practice. Considering that the incidence of this type of cancer is one-quarter of one percent of all cancers, it's unlikely that most physicians will see this type of cancer during the lifetimes of their practice. The fact that the internist recognized the possibility of this abnormality on the patient's second visit is amazing."
Using numbers helps the legal nurse consultant explain
complex information to attorneys and juries. Using those
numbers persuasively involves telling a story so that the numbers
make sense.