Every month we strive to bring our readers O&P content that informs and provides insight about various aspects of the profession. But we also want to know what you think. In this issue, we have the pleasure of sharing your thoughts about how the profession is using digital technology and 3D printing and some of the unique solutions you have used to meet individual patient’s needs.
This spring, we contracted with an independent third-party provider to conduct a survey about how you are using 3D printing and digital technologies and to hear your opinions about the future of this technology in terms of regulation and growth. In this issue’s special section, “The 3D Printing & Technology Survey,” we share some of the results and insights from that survey. Watch our website for further details from the survey being added to EA Data.
Most patient presentations that practitioners encounter daily have evidence-based guidance for device options or common fitting challenges. Sometimes though, the patient’s needs or desires do not fit within a standard protocol, and O&P clinicians and technicians call on their creativity to find a unique solution. We asked you to tell us your stories about innovative designs you’ve created in “Problem Solving With Skill and Creativity.”
Now that the profession has moved to a master’s degree requirement for entry and there is an increasing emphasis on measurable outcomes, it is tempting to emphasize the science of O&P to distance it from its past roots as a craft. However, like other aspects of healthcare, O&P practice also relies on nuanced clinical decision-making that is much less concrete than what we think of as science and closer to art. “Is O&P Science, Art, or Neither?” explores the tension between these two aspects of clinical practice.
I want to thank our readers for sharing their experiences and views and allowing us to share them with our audience.
Happy reading.
Andrea Spridgen
