Manufacturers Offer Clinical Software

Some of O&P's leading manufacturers are also joining the movement to provide software systems that offer clinical support to O&P practitioners. Otto Bock Otto Bock HealthCare has recently released new software technology designed to delight the clinician. Photo courtesy of Otto Bock HealthCare Its newly updated TF Design and TT Design CAD/ CAM software each offer a range of new and improved features, including the new Total Surface Weight Bearing Socket (TSWB) socket shape, an integrated urethane liner, non-uniform reduction profile, and a lateral brim adjustment tool. The TT/TF CAD program not only allows the practitioner to identify and select components for the prosthesis from the socket to the floor, but offers a "build-it-on-screen" option that creates solid documentation in the process. The system asks questions about what kind of functionality the prosthetist is looking for, seeking to define the patient in clinical terms, based on practitioner input regarding mobility grade, weight limit, etc. It sifts through and eliminates options as it poses further questions, such as "Single axis knee or a polycentric knee?" as it provides increasingly specific menus. If you make one choice, you get another menu. Suggested options are, naturally, Otto Bock components. "Although in this sense it doesn't let you cross the spectrum of the prosthetist's universe, it's a very useful guide," said Michael Leach, CPO, Professional Services Department. "It allows the prosthetist/business owner to work faster; it allows him to be certain that the functional qualities of the prosthesis is what he's looking for," Leach said. "It's most cost-effective because it allows users to take advantage of discounts based on a total Otto Bock system, and it's fabricated for them through our central fab services, so they don't have to have a lab or technician," he explained. While not brand new, Otto Bock's updated MYOBoy Software still offers useful and exclusive virtues, Leach said. It enables measurement of the strength of muscle impulses and identifies impulse sites so the practitioner can determine the appropriate type of myoelectric upper-limb device. It also allows the patient to virtually "try on" the prosthesis and prints out an accompanying justification. This unique feature allows the practitioner to predict the level of competency a patient can reach with the device, because the muscle strength has already been tested. This provides vital documentation to accompany the billing. In addition, a separate biofeedback tool, which installs on a PC without special hardware, allows patients to be connected to the device and use the muscle impulses to control the path of a little racecar through an onscreen maze. What appears to be a game is actually a painless way to help the patient strengthen and gain control of the specific muscles that will control the movements of the prosthesis. "Even kids like it," said Karen Lundquist, marketing communications manager. "We believe that it lets them have more success and a faster learning curve, and allows people to immediately and effectively use their new myoelectric prosthesis." Ordering and customizing the described software is managed on a common platform with Otto Bock's CAD/CAM programs, and the combined result has been recently renamed. The former Otto Bock CAD Centre is now known as the Otto Bock Data Station, designed to manage the job data and the customer data of the individual programs. The Data Station is described by Jeff Ashenbrenner, Otto Bock marketing manager, as a global platform to manage total patient care. "The Data Station creates a patient record wherein practitioners can also save three-dimensional shape captures, enabling such comparisons as changes in limb volume. This documentation serves as quantifiable justification when claims issues arise." For more information about Otto Bock clinical software systems, contact Otto Bock HealthCare; 800.328.4058; www.ottobockus.com . Ohio Willow Wood Photo courtesy of Ohio Willow Wood Ohio Willow Wood's OMEGA TM Tracer systems have been making rapid strides in the CAD arena, introducing a series of software and hardware that allows practitioners to create orthotic and prosthetic devices. In addition to capturing anatomical shapes, the software allows shape modifications and also provides complete documentation of shapes while maintaining a library of templates for future shapes. Most recently (March 2005), software collections systems are required for the financial aspects of the business. The OMEGA Tracer software allows users to maintain documentation in one place, ready to send out when required. "And if you had to do it repetitively, the software maintains that history, so you don't have to recreate documentation packages each time," pointed out Lisa DiGiacomo, Ohio Willow Wood's marketing communication manager. Although the capabilities of CAD software have been around virtually since CAD's first appearance, these advantages are not widely understood, and hence, not put to use as often as they might be - a continuing challenge for Ohio Willow Wood. "We still find ourselves having to teach folks to think and rethink CAD," said DiGiacomo. "We have quite a few people out there who really don't understand the basics of CAD and its competencies, let alone all the other software packages that you may want to think about in order to make your practice as streamlined as possible. There are still many practitioners who remain comfortable with hand-to-plaster transfer, and believe it's very important to do it that way. In fact, the tools are roughly the same, the practitioners are still using hand skills; it's just a little different type of hand skills." Tracer software doesn't eliminate cognitive decision-making, nor attempt to think for the practitioner, as he or she develops solutions based on knowledge of what a patient faces and what tests would be best for a particular patient, DiGiacomo said, adding that it does make implementing those solutions much easier. Coming Soon "Based on the pace of technology, we could update three times a year," DiGiacomo said, "but I think our audience would be a little irritated. It's a constant challenge to balance the introduction of new technology with how often the market can absorb - and afford it - without getting frustrated." Relearning new systems and techniques also takes up valuable time; there's a frequency limit beyond which the embracing of new technology is no longer cost-effective for the learner. "I certainly see new shape-capture devices becoming even more compact, like cell phones, PDAs, and other technology," DiGiacomo said. "This works really well for practitioners who have to go from hospital to hospital to nursing homes. With increasingly mobile practitioners, the demand for smaller and more portable devices will also increase." "Software improvements will require even less time to create even more exceptional outcomes: i.e. a good-fitting, comfortable prosthesis in less time." For more information about OMEGA Tracer Systems, contact Ohio Willow Wood; 800.848.4930; www.owwco.com . Companies mentioned in this article are representative and for reader information; this is not a complete list of companies offering CAD and other clinical management software. The O&P EDGE does not endorse any specific companies, products, or services.

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Now Hiring: Certified Prosthetist Orthotist (CPO)

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