As countless articles, presentations, and letters have stressed, O&P professionals are members of the healthcare team, not simply providers of a product. However, many times, providing that care also involves providing a device and, as Tony Wickman, CTPO, points out in “How to Build a Technician,” if you can’t build the device, you have nothing to provide to the patient. It is with that thought in mind that we dedicate this issue of The O&P EDGE to the men and women behind the scenes—O&P technicians. In an area of healthcare where nearly everything must be customized to fit the individual patient, they are an integral part of the team. The article mentioned previously examines just what it takes in regard to aptitude, personality, and training to become one of the people who take the various materials of their trade, such as plastic, carbon fiber, and metal, and shape them into devices that enhance or change the lives of people who rely on prostheses, orthoses, or orthotics.
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