Re: Cad CaM Responses #1
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: Cad CaM Responses #1
Text:
Hi Mark.
I have been reading the responses to your CAD-CAM post for the past several
days. I thought it time to throw in my $.02 worth.
I purchased a complete Bio-Sculptor suite 5 years ago. The reason (other than
the fact that like most prosthetists, I love gadgets) was to become more
efficient with regard to my plaster room. The “white pit” had become the
bottleneck in our small but busy P&O (heavy P) facility. I was spending
several hours every weekend in the plaster room. In a good week, I would
modify the models the same week they were casted. In a bad week, they were 2
weeks old. I often found myself trying to remember, “Who is this person I am
working on?” I was painfully aware that my well-paid technicians were often
standing around with nothing to do because my partner and I had not been able
to do the model mods, due to clinics, seeing patients and returning telephone
calls and running the business end, there were no hour or more blocks of time
during business hours. I researched CAD for 2 years prior to deciding on
Bio-Sculptor. B-S is clearly the most intuitive CAD program available today.
It literally thinks like a prosthetist! The tools you use are so similar that
there is a very short learning curve to get up to speed with it. After the
installation of the system, we committed to it 100% No double model
comparison period, but a full commitment to CAD. After all, the money I had
spent represented the largest business purchase I had ever made. For the
first month, I often found myself muttering, “this would be so easy in
plaster”, but we kept on with it. After all, for a 2-practitioner facility
the expenditure of $ 160,000 to replace $3.00 Sureform files was no small
commitment! After about a month, we started to understand the system and our
check sockets were starting to look reasonable. We then worked to standardize
our casting techniques so the CAD work was quantifiable. Within 6 months, I
can honestly say that our initial sockets were every bit as good as we had
done by hand. I was completely happy! I was no longer spending my weekends in
the plaster room! It was a rare occasion that the models weren't carved the
day they the casts were taken. I was 100%satisfied with the system by that
time. At the same time we were doing some aggressive business development and
we were becoming busier and busier. We brought in another experienced CPO who
was Shapemaker experienced. He was able to adapt to BS very rapidly. He was
also amazed at the accuracy of the BS carver and with the simplicity of the
software. After about a year to 18 months, we were noticing that our initial
sockets were routinely fitting with a sheath or one ply. A BK fitting was
taking no more than an hour (including alignment) and it was a rarity that a
second check socket was required.
We now have increased our professional staff to 7 practitioners. Five of them
are prosthetists. Of these five, all are extremely enthusiastic about our
CAD-CAM program. All of them are experienced prosthetists who used to work in
plaster. None of them would want to go back to it. We routinely deliver a BK
from 2 weeks of casting. The practitioner time (the most expensive commodity
in your office) has been cut in half and we are delivering a superior
product. We have, on numerous occasions, delivered prostheses “next day”
while the client is in rehab and speed is an issue. We do this without ever
breaking a sweat.
I often chuckle that one of our prosthetists will leave a fitting room with
an initial check socket in hand, complaining, “It fits in a 3ply. Wonder what
wrong?”
I am in agreement that “what a prosthetist does, he does with is hands.” I
think this is the reason I have avoided the “wand-toy”systems being hawked
out there.
Sorry this post is so long, but this is actually an abbreviated story. I
would welcome interaction from progressive prosthetists who are interested in
our experiences.
I am amazed that this technology has not set our small industry on fire.
We have increased our gross sales 400% in the past five years and our bottom
line by a corresponding number.
By the way, when we have do have to produce a plaster model for whatever
reason, I find myself saying “This would be so easy in CAD.”
Ron Kidd, CPO
American Orthopedics
Columbus, Ohio
I have been reading the responses to your CAD-CAM post for the past several
days. I thought it time to throw in my $.02 worth.
I purchased a complete Bio-Sculptor suite 5 years ago. The reason (other than
the fact that like most prosthetists, I love gadgets) was to become more
efficient with regard to my plaster room. The “white pit” had become the
bottleneck in our small but busy P&O (heavy P) facility. I was spending
several hours every weekend in the plaster room. In a good week, I would
modify the models the same week they were casted. In a bad week, they were 2
weeks old. I often found myself trying to remember, “Who is this person I am
working on?” I was painfully aware that my well-paid technicians were often
standing around with nothing to do because my partner and I had not been able
to do the model mods, due to clinics, seeing patients and returning telephone
calls and running the business end, there were no hour or more blocks of time
during business hours. I researched CAD for 2 years prior to deciding on
Bio-Sculptor. B-S is clearly the most intuitive CAD program available today.
It literally thinks like a prosthetist! The tools you use are so similar that
there is a very short learning curve to get up to speed with it. After the
installation of the system, we committed to it 100% No double model
comparison period, but a full commitment to CAD. After all, the money I had
spent represented the largest business purchase I had ever made. For the
first month, I often found myself muttering, “this would be so easy in
plaster”, but we kept on with it. After all, for a 2-practitioner facility
the expenditure of $ 160,000 to replace $3.00 Sureform files was no small
commitment! After about a month, we started to understand the system and our
check sockets were starting to look reasonable. We then worked to standardize
our casting techniques so the CAD work was quantifiable. Within 6 months, I
can honestly say that our initial sockets were every bit as good as we had
done by hand. I was completely happy! I was no longer spending my weekends in
the plaster room! It was a rare occasion that the models weren't carved the
day they the casts were taken. I was 100%satisfied with the system by that
time. At the same time we were doing some aggressive business development and
we were becoming busier and busier. We brought in another experienced CPO who
was Shapemaker experienced. He was able to adapt to BS very rapidly. He was
also amazed at the accuracy of the BS carver and with the simplicity of the
software. After about a year to 18 months, we were noticing that our initial
sockets were routinely fitting with a sheath or one ply. A BK fitting was
taking no more than an hour (including alignment) and it was a rarity that a
second check socket was required.
We now have increased our professional staff to 7 practitioners. Five of them
are prosthetists. Of these five, all are extremely enthusiastic about our
CAD-CAM program. All of them are experienced prosthetists who used to work in
plaster. None of them would want to go back to it. We routinely deliver a BK
from 2 weeks of casting. The practitioner time (the most expensive commodity
in your office) has been cut in half and we are delivering a superior
product. We have, on numerous occasions, delivered prostheses “next day”
while the client is in rehab and speed is an issue. We do this without ever
breaking a sweat.
I often chuckle that one of our prosthetists will leave a fitting room with
an initial check socket in hand, complaining, “It fits in a 3ply. Wonder what
wrong?”
I am in agreement that “what a prosthetist does, he does with is hands.” I
think this is the reason I have avoided the “wand-toy”systems being hawked
out there.
Sorry this post is so long, but this is actually an abbreviated story. I
would welcome interaction from progressive prosthetists who are interested in
our experiences.
I am amazed that this technology has not set our small industry on fire.
We have increased our gross sales 400% in the past five years and our bottom
line by a corresponding number.
By the way, when we have do have to produce a plaster model for whatever
reason, I find myself saying “This would be so easy in CAD.”
Ron Kidd, CPO
American Orthopedics
Columbus, Ohio
Citation
“Re: Cad CaM Responses #1,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 5, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/216060.
