Bilingual Communication in O&P
Alesha Heacock, an O&P student at the University of Hartford, is conducting research to enhance bilingual communication efficiency between O&P clinicians and patients.
Heacock is seeking the assistance of experienced clinicians to read and make suggestions to an English-only resource through a survey. Respondents should be currently practicing or retired within the last five years, ABC- or BOC-certified prosthetists, prosthetist/orthotists, orthotists, or pedorthists with English as their primary language.
The unidentifiable aggregated feedback will further development of a bilingual resource, aiding in breaking down Spanish language barriers, and providing a resource to clinicians and patients.
Email Heacock with questions or stating your willingness to participate by May 1, at which time she will send further details.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Function, Satisfaction, and Pain in Upper-Limb Prosthesis Users
Kimberly L. Kontson, PhD, is part of research project by the US Food and Drug Administration’s Human-Device Interaction Program to evaluate the perceived function and satisfaction people with upper-limb amputations have with their prosthetic devices, and their experiences with pain.
To maximize broad patient participation, Kontson would like O&P facilities to ask current and former patients to contact her to participate. Participants who complete the survey will be entered into a lottery to win a $20 gift card.
In the survey, patients will be asked basic demographic information such as level and side of amputation and to evaluate their perceived function, satisfaction with their prosthetic devices, and pain. The survey takes less than 20 minutes to complete.
To find out more about the research study motivation, goals, and data use, visit the FDA document.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 301-796-4990
Cranial Remolding
Jose L. Gonzales Jr., CO, BOCO, is conducting a one-question survey to gain a better understanding of what clinicians are trained to observe when evaluating nonsynostotic deformational head shapes. The goal is to use the results of the survey to improve training and education in the cranial remolding community.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VMXX5DN
Outcome Measures
Geoffrey S. Balkman, PhD, CPO, is part of a University of Washington research team creating a free self-report outcome measure that can be used in clinical practice. He is asking clinicians to ask their lower-limb orthosis patients to participate in a survey study, which is sponsored by the Department of Defense and the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association.
The team is collecting information from AFO, KAFO, and HKAFO users across North America, and the survey can be taken online, or a paper survey can be sent for completion. Eligible respondents will receive $50 for taking the survey.
The researchers will send you free posters, flyers, and pamphlets that you can post in your clinics and share with your patients when you email your name and clinic address.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 800-504-0564
Survey link: https://mobilitysurvey.org
Prosthetist Decision-making Processes
Pratima Saravanan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Industrial Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. She is studying the influence of amputees’ gait analysis on the decision-making processes of prosthetists during lower-limb prosthetic prescription. Information and results obtained from this study will help gain insight into effective prescription processes and develop a portable gait analysis system.
The interactive survey for prosthetists will held Saravanan understand how decision-making strategies may vary across quantitative and observational gait analyses.
O&P practitioners who participate will be asked to review two case studies and answer a series of follow-up questions, which should take 20-30 minutes. All information will remain anonymous and confidential.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Survey link: https://www.decision-strategies-prosthetics.com/
Recycling Plastic
Dan Blocka, CO(c), BSc, FCBC, has four O&P technician students from George Brown College, Toronto, Canada, working on a research project. The group is looking at the issue of recycling plastics as it pertains to O&P with an eight-question survey, which should take five to ten minutes. The survey will help determine if there are any trends that facilities have regarding recycling and focus and to research solutions.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GG8YDSD
Lower-limb Suspension Systems
James Frederick is a student at the International Institute of Orthotics and Prosthetics in Florida writing a research article on the different suspension systems in lower-limb prostheses. The goal of the survey is to determine which suspension system is most commonly used, and the outcome of the different types of suspension systems used by clinicians. His paper will analyze suction suspension systems and their potential pain-relieving benefits in patients dealing with severe phantom pain or neuropathic pain.
No personal data will be collected by the survey and no information gathered is identifiable. The 13-question survey will take approximately five minutes to complete.
Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZgnclYBB1KpwFpnBp0Xvs1L7BndSqKLSNiCglE7BKn20K2g/viewform?usp=sf_link
