Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics, National Institutes of Social Affairs, Exceed Worldwide, Lisburn, UK.
Prosthet Orthot Int. 2020 Dec;44(6):416-426. doi: 10.1177/0309364620968644. Epub 2020 Nov 8.
There is a long history of prosthetic and orthotic services helping to mitigate the impact of physical impairment by restoring function, and enabling and equipping the user. The training of health professionals who design, fit, and maintain prosthetic and orthotic devices has evolved over the centuries, reflecting an increase in knowledge, technology, understanding, and social attitudes in each era. Improvements in pedagogical thinking and biomechanical understanding, as well as the advent of new integrated technologies, have driven the profession over the past 50 years to modernize, evolve training and service delivery models in line with new attitudes toward clients, and search for new ways to improve users' quality of life. In this narrative review, the authors examined the evolution of prosthetic and orthotic education, the impact of changing educational techniques and technologies, and the impact of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics in that process. Through conversations with experts and review of peer-reviewed literature, accreditation documents, and the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics records and databases, the authors identified three areas of change in prosthetics and orthotics education over the past 50 years: (1) prosthetic/orthotic curriculum content, (2) pedagogy and course delivery, and (3) internships/residencies. This narrative review is a snapshot of a growing profession and we can only speculate where the next 50 years will lead us as we strive to serve patients, ever placing their needs and aspirations at the center of this professional service.
假肢和矫形器服务有着悠久的历史，通过恢复功能、使患者能够并装备他们，来减轻身体损伤的影响。假肢和矫形器设计、适配和维护人员的培训在几个世纪中不断发展，反映了每个时代知识、技术、理解和社会态度的提高。教学思想和生物力学理解的改进，以及新的集成技术的出现，推动了该专业在过去 50 年中实现现代化，根据客户的新态度调整培训和服务提供模式，并寻找提高用户生活质量的新方法。在这篇叙述性评论中，作者检查了假肢和矫形器教育的演变、不断变化的教育技术和技术的影响，以及国际假肢和矫形协会在这一过程中的影响。通过与专家的对话和对同行评议文献、认证文件以及国际假肢和矫形协会记录和数据库的审查，作者确定了过去 50 年来假肢和矫形器教育的三个变化领域：（1）假肢/矫形器课程内容，（2）教学法和课程交付，以及（3）实习/住院医师培训。本叙述性评论是一个不断发展的专业领域的快照，我们只能推测在未来 50 年内，我们将走向何方，因为我们努力为患者服务，始终将他们的需求和愿望置于这一专业服务的中心。
