Choosing a Patient

This week in ISM, I had a phone call meeting with my mentor, updated my blog, and discussed my Original Work with classmates. During our phone call, mentor and I revised our previous idea of designing two prosthetic legs: one for an above the knee patient and another for a below the knee patient. Because an above knee device is significantly different from a below knee, building this product would essentially mean that I'll have to create two patients, instead of one. As a result, the purpose behind having an above knee and below knee device would be lost, because each prosthesis wouldn't be fundamentally identical, despite the use of the same suspension system. And since I was initially trying to compare a single suspension system within the category of type of prosthesis, I would no longer be able to draw as strong of a conclusion at the end. Therefore, my mentor and I decided to create a single patient with specific characteristics and then design two prosthetic legs for that individual: one immediately following surgery and another approximately a year later, when the leg has stabilized and is no longer rapidly losing muscle mass. I think this idea will allow me to not only incorporate different suspension systems but also practice a realistic approach to treating a patient. Furthermore, I will choose this patient by looking through several links my mentor sent me describing actual patient experiences, so I can either base the patient for whom I'm designing this prosthesis off a real individual or through compiling various characteristics from several people. This upcoming week, I have scheduled a mentor visit, so I plan on finalizing the details for my patient and pulling the sockets for my final product.