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Just because school is out doesn't mean the learning stops. After an information-filled summer semester, it was time for the summer clinical rotations. During our clinical rotations, we followed a practitioner around full-time for a few weeks—100-plus hours. This allowed us to really learn what life as a prosthetist or orthotist would be like, instead of the one-day-a-week glimpse we get during the school year.
Professor Arlene Gillis, CP, LPO, the clinical-education director for the St. Petersburg College O&P program, assigned Frank Dourado III, CPO, LPO, and my dad, Kevin Carroll, MS, CP, FAAOP, to be my preceptors. Interestingly, Frank was Professor Gillis' mentor while she was completing her residency to become a certified clinician. I took that as a good sign.
I started out my clinical rotations with my dad. Since he travels around the country to see patients, we were on the road, or I guess more accurately in the air, to attend clinics in the northeastern United States. These clinics gave me the opportunity to meet patients and clinicians whom I would otherwise not meet and exposed me to a variety of treatment methods and concepts being used across the country. Of course, we learn about the treatment methods for various ailments or amputation levels in school, but many of the clinicians whom I have followed tend to use the same type of brace, knee, foot, liner, or sleeve on most of their patients. Having the opportunity to shadow different clinicians and see their patients has introduced me to different solutions to problems. This knowledge may serve me well in the future when one particular solution doesn't work for all of my patients.
With one year done and less than nine months to go in my prosthetic and orthotic education journey, I have to start thinking about multiple solutions for different patients. One of the things I really enjoyed observing with my dad was the fact that he always seemed to have multiple solutions for each patient. As a student, learning them all is a bit daunting, but knowing that there are so many solutions for our patients is a great thing! I just hope that I am able to keep an open mind with my future patients when I'm deciding which devices would be most beneficial for them.
Another thing I enjoyed about traveling with my dad is that he continuously quizzed me on various concepts that have to do with the O&P profession. While he was asking me about different products and theories, I was gradually able to recall more and more about each one. I also liked being able to bounce ideas off of him and ask him questions without being nervous about sounding uninformed.
While shadowing Frank, who is based in central Florida, I had the opportunity to see more patients from start to finish than I had seen with my dad while traveling. I modified plaster molds and compared them to the casts that had already been modified. They say practice makes perfect, but I think it really makes confidence. Every "real" cast I modified built my confidence much more than the casts I modify in school. Knowing that the cast I modified was going to be used by an actual person rather than just fabricated and fit one time was not only much more of a challenge, it was also a real confidence booster. Another benefit of shadowing Frank was that I was able to see both orthotic and prosthetic patients. This made for a well-balanced clinical rotation.
All in all, it was a good rotation. Now I just need to talk my dad into accepting a resident.... That'll never happen!
Michael Carroll is a junior at St. Petersburg College (SPC), Florida. He has been sharing his experiences with The O&P EDGE as he completes his bachelor's degree in orthotics and prosthetics. He can be reached at
