User-Centered Design of Limb Prostheses: A New University Course Designed to Spark Interest in Orthotics &...

There is a current need to increase recruitment in orthotics and prosthetics, and a promising approach is to increase awareness, interest and cross-disciplinary engagement in O&P among students of allied disciplines such as bioengineering. We describe a new interdisciplinary course we jointly developed at the University of Pittsburgh and deployed for the first time in the spring of 2023. The course was built on core foci of human-centered design, design thinking, experiential learning, 3D printing, creative problem-solving and prototyping. We leveraged a real-world project-based learning approach that included early and ongoing involvement of student teams with clients who used prosthetics. We explored creating a learning environment in which bioengineering students were motivated to learn about the O&P field by partnering with clients to investigate their unmet prosthetic needs and invent new solutions, with computer-aided design and 3D printing as key enabling technologies. Each student team produced an individually designed and fitted device for a specific application for a person with limb difference. Student feedback was positive throughout with several recipients expressing enthusiasm about the field of O&P and about the opportunity to work with actual patients. Several students stated their new-found interest in pursuing a career in the field. We believe that this sort of class offering could be implemented in many institutions that host O&P graduate programs, to raise awareness of the profession and attract more and better prepared applicants.