Prosthetic technicians fabricate artificial limbs for patients who have lost all or part of their arms or legs. They rarely deal directly with patients, although many spend just a few years as technicians before deciding to become prosthetists, the medical professionals who work with patients to measure and fit the limbs.
"You have to be a self-starter," explains certified prosthetist Al Ingersoll, who works at Winkley Orthotics and Prosthetics in Golden Valley (www.winkley.com). "When the prosthetist gives you the work order, you have to take the process from beginning to end without a lot of supervision. You have to be able to look at something and decide if it's strong enough, if it's safe, if it's going to be functional, and you definitely have to be a team player because you're always trying to help someone out."
Tools And Materials
Prosthetic technicians use a variety of hand tools, such as grinders, band saws and cutting tools, plus ovens and other specialized fixtures in the fabrication process. Their work materials include different plastics and laminates, carbon fiber, Fiberglas and Dacron. "Typically the technicians will be handling that material and they usually decide how much and where it's used with some guidance on the weight and the activity level of the patient," Ingersoll says.
Fabricating an artificial limb can take a matter of hours to several weeks or even months, depending on how complicated the patient's medical and rehabilitation situation is.
Education And Training
To become a prosthetic technician, students must have a high school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma, or be enrolled in the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option for high school students, according to Stan O'Connor, director of the prosthetics program at Century College in White Bear Lake (www.century.edu).
Century was the first college in the nation to offer a prosthetic technician program and remains the only one that offers both technician and prosthetist training. To become a prosthetist, one must be a technician first and ideally will work as a technician for a year or two before returning to school, O'Connor says.
