Raschke argued that O&P education has emphasized clinical care at the expense of engineering and business skills, which she sees as having equal influence in the future face of O&P. It is the lack of balance among these skills that has made O&P vulnerable to disruption by external forces, such as 3D printed devices that can be seen as an “attractive value proposition to payors,” the editorial said. Rebalancing the professional persona to equally weight the three essential core elements would prevent further disruption to the O&P profession.
Raschke is the journal’s editor in chief, a member of the advisory board for the Midwestern University Master of Science in Orthotics and Prosthetics program, and was a research faculty member at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
By repositioning themselves as technology managers, O&P professionals could highlight their expertise ahead of continuing changes to healthcare and the profession.
“This repositioning would see the role of the prosthetist/orthotist broaden slightly from a medical-clinical focus to one that also guides client-patients in navigating the increasing number of technology options….”
As a client-centric model, the reposition would recognize what prosthetists/orthotists currently do, strengthen the two weaker elements that make O&P vulnerable to disruption, and uses an inclusive model to engage the patient in decision making.”
To read the editorial, “Technology management as a core component of a client-centric prosthetic orthotic practice model,” visit the Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal.
