Orthopedic Engineering: P&O Credential of the Future?

The Swedish practitioners were very friendly, and many went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. On the evening prior to the conference, we were invited to join everyone in a traditional meal called "Pytt i Panna". The entire hall was filled to overflowing with camaraderie and historic Swedish drinking songs as we shared beer, vodka, and schnapps. Everyone feasted on massive platters overflowing with mounds of fried potatoes or pickled beets, accompanied by unlimited quantities of fresh garden lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers.

This convivial setting provided an ideal opportunity to learn more about the Scandinavian P&O program headquartered in nearby Jonkoping, Sweden. One of the instructors from the program, Sara Kallin, was kind enough to talk with me at length the following afternoon after learning of my interest in this topic.

About two decades ago, the Swedish P&O leaders decided that a more academic preparation was important for the future of the profession and they elected to create a University curriculum that is based on biomechanical engineering principles. Students have three years of formal training with a strong biomechanical foundation that includes coursework in materials science, mechanical engineering, and related engineering principles as well as the traditional health-related P&O core courses. Graduates are referred to as "Orthopedic Engineers" rather than CPOs, and seem to be both well respected and as well as clinically savvy.

I was very impressed by the number of papers presented at this meeting by younger practitioners who had conducted original research on questions of interest about our field. Virtually every lecture summarized the hypothesis, method, data, and a discussion of key findings regarding orthoses or prostheses that are commonly applied in clinical practice. It appears that the Swedish model has certainly prepared the up-n-coming Swedish practitioners to conduct, present, and critically evaluate pertinent clinical research. If Dr. Raschke's fears are valid, this bodes well for the future of the profession in Scandinavia.

In private conversations, several of the senior practitioners noted that the graduates of the school still need supervised experience before they could safely treat patients independently. But, they generally agreed that this was appropriate since they viewed the school's mission as providing the theoretical understanding of the principles required for the future of the profession as it evolves, but not to teach the basics of current practice methods. The latter knowledge was more easily and more economically learned from supervised practice with real patients.

Of course, it is impossible to thoroughly understand a different educational system based on a few casual conversations. But, I left with a very favorable impression of the overall results of the Swedish approach to our professional education. Hopefully the academic leaders in other country's P&O programs will study the Swedish experience in more detail to see if aspects should be incorporated in other settings.

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