patient-image

Growing up as an amputee, my parents and I relied heavily on the guidance of my prosthetist. In a sense, my prosthetist was almost as responsible for my quality of life as anyone else I could think back on at that time in my life. Because I realized what an important role he played in my life, I even idolized him to a certain extent.

During my education to become a prosthetist, and as I entered the field, I began to realize how uninformed I had been as a patient. As I speak with more and more amputees, I realize how often patient’s voices are not being heard as prosthetists make decisions about their care. Frequently, I see knees and feet chosen for a patient that are not compatible with what the patients expressed as their goals, desired lifestyle, environment and activities. Whatever the reason, I soon realized that what was missing from a lot of patient care was education and options. Just as I did growing up, todays patients look to their prosthetists to make decisions about the limbs they will rely on, and often don’t ask questions because they do not know what to ask.

In the short term, lack of patient education may make a prosthetist’s job easier, but in the long term, patient education is one of the key factors that can revolutionize prosthetics care. In this day of information flow and rapid innovation, providing patients with their options is even more important, because it enables patients to develop a true long-term partnership with their practitioners, which is more satisfying for everyone involved.