Orthotist or Prosthetist
What is an Orthotist or Prosthetist?
Orthotist or Prosthetist Job Description Design, measure, fit, and adapt orthopedic braces, appliances or prostheses, such as limbs or facial parts for patients with disabling conditions.
Life As an Orthotist or Prosthetist: What Do They Do?
- Maintain patients’ records.
- Confer with physicians to formulate specifications and prescriptions for orthopedic or prosthetic devices.
- Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians’ prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.
- Make and modify plaster casts of areas that will be fitted with prostheses or orthoses, for use in the device construction process.
- Examine, interview, and measure patients to determine their appliance needs and to identify factors that could affect appliance fit.
- Select materials and components to be used, based on device design.
What an Orthotist or Prosthetist Should Know
- Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.