Caitlin Bowman (MSPO’24) holding a teddy bear wearing a Thoracic-Lumbar-Sacral Orthosis (TLSO).
During the last term of the University of Pittsburgh Master of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics (MSPO) program, students complete a clinical internship of 340 hours. Many students typically relocate outside of Pittsburgh to complete this requirement, like I did!
I am excited to share a little about my internship experience this past year at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Orthotics and Prosthetics Department (CHOA) in Atlanta, Georgia, where I will also begin my two-year combined residency in June.
During this internship I was able to see both inpatients and outpatients and work interprofessionally with pediatric health care professionals from rehabilitation, sports medicine and orthopedics at various clinics. American Board for Certification (ABC) Certified Prosthetist Orthotists (CPO) are licensed and qualified to treat patients of all ages across the lifespan, from tiny NICU babies to geriatric care. At CHOA I loved getting to work with a spectrum of patients, from little babies to young adults in college!
One thing I love about pediatric P&O is that kids are not just little adults; they present differently and bring their own challenges to manage orthotically. Pediatric P&O professionals must anticipate growth or change in deformity and make corrections, where adults are pretty static. In this profession, you must know your pathologies and presentations of needs, and I feel the foundation I have from the Pitt Prosthetics and Orthotics program has helped me thrive in my internship.
Day in the Life
A typical day for me was being in the office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. I usually went through the list of patients with my preceptor first thing in the morning and then we saw a variety of patients throughout the day.
I experienced and supported a wide range of patient needs throughout the week, from sports medicine clinic referrals for custom anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) bracing to fitting a reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO) at robotics. I also have done scoliosis measuring or fitting, rotationplasty prosthetic evaluations and casting for an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) in the operating room the same day as a tenotomy—a surgery where they release a tight tendon!
A KSU student pulls hot copolymer plastic over a plaster mold to make a teddy bear TLSO.
Beyond the Clinic
In addition to clinical work at my internship, I was also involved in research and volunteer service. I participated in clinical trial studies, where I saw cerebral palsy patients in a gait lab! We looked at how different optimizations of AFOs impacted their gait. The study team included collaborators from CHOA O&P, Kennesaw State University (KSU) Kinesiology and Biomechanics, and physical therapists.
In February 2024, I was able to volunteer with the current CHOA resident to teach the P&O master's students at KSU how to make Thoracic-Lumbar-Sacral Orthosis (TLSOs) for teddy bears to give out to patients receiving our care.
I conducted trials for my capstone at the end of my internship and will continue this research during my residency at CHOA. I feel like I learned a lot about conducting clinical research with children. My capstone was looking at children’s picture books depicting orthotics and prosthetics, and seeing if exposure to these books or “bibliotherapy” increases kid’s willingness to wear their devices. We also looked at peer’s acceptance attitudes towards the kids with these devices after reading the books. I presented this research at the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists this past March in Chicago. I even wrote and published a book called “Anthony’s Amazing AFOs” as a part of this capstone!
“Anthony’s Amazing AFOs”—The book that Bowman wrote and published with her sister as part of her capstone project.
Advice for P&O Students
One piece of advice I have for future P&O students is if you are interested in being a resident at a specific place or sub-specialty, try to do your internship there. It is a great practice run for you and the site to decide if it is the best fit for both of you. I really liked my preceptors during this internship, and knowing the workplace environment and teaching styles at CHOA is one of the reasons I decided to do my residency here!
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Written by:
Caitlin Bowman
University of Pittsburgh Prosthetics and Orthotics (MSPO’24)
Interested in the possibility to explore the nation and apply skills and techniques taught in the Master of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics (MSPO) program? Learn more about the degree by visiting our website or reaching out to our enrollment specialists at enroll@shrs.pitt.edu.