Boston Orthotics & Prosthetics is doing its part to help educate and support the next generation of orthotics and prosthetics professionals.
All students currently enrolled in a Masters of O&P program and current residents are eligible to take the Boston Brace Student course free of charge. This online course offered through Boston O&P’s eLearning center provides an overview of scoliosis and an introduction to the non-operative management of idiopathic scoliosis with the Boston Brace system. Students will become familiar with the biomechanical principles of the Boston system and be introduced to the Boston Brace 3D orthosis.
In addition to offering the free course, Boston O&P clinicians are virtually attending schools for a follow-up “Q&A with the experts.” Recently, Lauren Houle, a certified prosthetist orthotist and physical therapist who works at the Boston O&P of Weymouth, MA clinic, met with O&P students at Baylor University to discuss the basics of bracing for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
She will also be visiting Northwestern University along with Jim Wynne, certified prosthetist orthotist and Boston O&P Vice President and Director of Education, Resident Director, to talk with the students and assist them in their brace design project. Kaitlin Rivest, a certified prosthetist orthotist with Boston O&P’s Boston Children’s Hospital clinic and a moderator of Boston O&P’s Scoliosis Support Group on Facebook, will visit the University of Pittsburgh’s O&P program, where she obtained her masters.
“We’re happy to do whatever we can to encourage students to learn the latest developments in the non-operative management of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis,” said Jim Wynne. “Hearing from experts in the profession is invaluable for students, keeping in touch with the next generation of orthotics professionals is good for us, and contributing to the education of future clinicians will eventually benefit the people they treat.”