August Blog Post

Welcome to my blog.
 Normally that welcome wouldn't be necessary, but seeing as all previous posts were assignments I figured it's time you get to read things written in my voice instead of my answering questions. As you may already know my senior topic is prosthetics and since I didn't do any hours during the month of August I plan on telling you exactly what the goal of a prosthetist is. Essentially a prosthetist's goal is to provide a patient with a well fitted, working prostheses that is comfortable for the amputee. To me, it goes deeper than this as a prosthetist grows a bond with their patients. Even as I have been mentoring I have grown attached to some of the patients that come through as we see them so often. You put effort into their prosthesis because you truly want to help that person along their already difficult journey. You get to know them well as their visits are frequent and lengthy depending on whether your casting or measuring them for a check socket. It motivates you to do a good job.

I'm sure this opinion will change as I continue my mentor ship, but for now this is what I believe the job of a prosthetist entails.

Now I mentioned some words earlier (and in the definitions themselves that I didn't notice till later -.-)that I think need to be defined:

Casting- this is where the prosthetist takes a plaster (or resin) mold of the residual limb which is then filled with plaster to create a positive mold to send off to the check socket boys.

Check socket- this is the initial socket created from that mold I mentioned in the above definition. It is a clear plastic socket that is used to gauge how close we are to a definite socket.

Definite socket- (goodness I'm not making this easier on myself) is the final product that the amputee then wears for a solid 1-2 years or until it wears out, just like a car the mechanical processes of the prosthesis have to be maintained regularly.

This is an example of a check socket

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1) Who do you plan on interviewing? Why?

• I plan on interviewing my mentor as I currently do not know many other people in the field just yet. He will be able to give a good amount of information and from there I can further my research.

2a) The current 5 questions I am required to ask are

• I'm interested in studying prosthetics. What can you tell me about it?
• From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant?
• Who else would you recommend I talk to?
• What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentor-ship component?
• What books should I read in the field?

2b) Any other open ended questions you want to ask?

• How rewarding is the field economically and emotionally?
• How many years of schooling does the field require? Were the ____ years compensated by the rewards in the field?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1.  Prosthetics

2.  How can you make a test socket as accurate as possible to ensure comfort?

Working Bibliography

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship

1.  Summer Mentorship Hours

2. My mentor's name is Ken Smith and his contact number is 1(310)-904-9093.

3. Assuming everything goes according to plan, approximately how long would it take to complete a prostheses?
    How can I make an interactive, entertaining activity out of this profession?
    Would I consider doing this for my career?
    How can prosthetics change peoples lives in more than just a physical aspect?
    As a prosthetist, should you become close with patients like a family physician or help the patient and move on?
    Does physical therapy play into the job in any way?
  
4. I feel that the most important thing I gained from my summer mentorship was an understanding on exactly how many different amputee patients you deal with on a weekly basis. It helped me to understand just how many people's lives you are changing within that week. It also gave me knowledge on how to approach different patients and talk to them about their disability.

5. My senior topic will be on the profession of prosthetics. As I stated in the previous blog post, I believe that it is a very noble profession and after my 25 summer mentorship hours my opinion has not wavered. My opinion has only been backed up by the dozens of prosthetic patients I have had the pleasure of meeting. Giving people their lives back is no small task, but the rewards of forever being the reason that a person can walk freely is completely satisfying and never gets old according to my mentor.