The P&O professional plays an important role in the rehabilitation of patients in the hospital setting. Their main goal is to prevent loss of function, slow functional decline, improve or restore function, compensate for lost function, and maintain current function through the use of orthotics and prosthetics. They are also involved in training, education, counseling, and modifying the environment. However, their primary role is creating, modifying, or using assistive technologies like AFOs, prosthetics, and compression socks to increase or maintain patients' functional abilities.

1. Intervention of the P&O in the hospital phase
Oscar Bermudez
CPO Cat I by ISPO
PaP 2015

2. Introduction
P&O Responsibilities
Orthotics
Prosthetics
Literature

3. One of the most important components in restoring mobility are assistive devices
such as orthotics / prosthetics.
The prosthetics and orthotics services play an important role for a person with a
disability to go from an immobile situation to become mobile, a passive receiver to
active contributor, and from isolation to inclusion. They also help provide more
resources to equality as helping a child with disabilities to go to school or an adult
with disabilities to engage in income generation activities, this include also the care
of inpatients.

4. The main goal of the P&O professional is to assist in
the rehabilitation of a person. So we need to start
defining rehabilitation: “a set of measures that
assist individuals who experience, or are likely to
experience, disability to achieve and maintain
optimal functioning in interaction with their
environments”.

5. In a hospital as well as in a P&O Clinic the following broad outcomes should be met, trough the use of
prosthetic/orthotic device:
 prevention of the loss of function
 slowing the rate of loss of function
 improvement or restoration of function
 compensation for lost function
 maintenance of current function.
All this improve by the early participation of all the interdisciplinary team of rehabilitation in the
inpatients care.

6. Tasks included:
 training, exercises, and compensatory strategies
 education
 support and counselling
 modifications to the environment
 provision of resources and assistive technology.

7. But the main involving of the P&O professional in the assistant of inpatients is:
The creation, modification or use of assistive technologies.
An assistive technology device can be defined as any item, piece of equipment, or product, whether it
is acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the
functional capabilities
of individuals with disabilities

14.  Afo´s and components. CSUDH Orthotic Certificate Program
 World Report on Disability. WHO 2011
 http://www.ispoint.org/sites/default/files/img/ispo-who_training_guidelines.pdf
 Compression Shrinker sock. CSPHRB.
 Postoperative Management of the Lower Extremity Amputation. AAOP