Where are the best?
Kip Hicks
Description
Collection
Title:
Where are the best?
Creator:
Kip Hicks
Date:
1/21/2016
Text:
Dear List,
I have been seeking a good quality and capable CPO and went about it the usual way. I put an ad in the OandP classifieds and reached out to friends and colleagues in the field. What I have found to be a consensus is that practitioner demand is high and the quality of qualified population is low. It is interesting to know that (2008 data) roughly 100,000 new amputees were discharged from hospitals and there were roughly 10,000 practicing prosthetists in the US. You would think that there would be a saturated market with a 10-1 ratio of prosthetists to (new) amputees. One would think an O&P clinic should be easy to find a “good fit” with those odds. You can look in the Classifieds and see a high frequency of a recurring theme. It is like the NFL trying to find the elusive top-notch quarterback. It seems not many exist.
I live in a US News top 30 city in America with low cost of living, great schools and all the bells and whistles that a career minded practitioner would want. The problem is (according to observation and the field consensus that I have spoken to) the available talent pool is low for “top notch” practitioners. Popular thought is that the new practitioners coming in: 1) feel (and act) entitled/privileged 2) do not have the work ethic or practical knowledge to perform at the level of salary demanded and 3) are always on the look-out to jump ship for “the next best thing”. There are exceptions to the rule of course but it seems the Late Generation X and “Why” are producing less “solid” candidates than ever before.
How/where do you find that “NFL QB”? It seems that the draft choices are pretty thin.
Thanks for your input.
Kip Hicks, CPO/LPO-CMCO
President/CEO
Infinity O&P, Inc.
Director of O&P / DME
927 Franklin Street, 2nd Floor
Huntsville, Al 35801
I have been seeking a good quality and capable CPO and went about it the usual way. I put an ad in the OandP classifieds and reached out to friends and colleagues in the field. What I have found to be a consensus is that practitioner demand is high and the quality of qualified population is low. It is interesting to know that (2008 data) roughly 100,000 new amputees were discharged from hospitals and there were roughly 10,000 practicing prosthetists in the US. You would think that there would be a saturated market with a 10-1 ratio of prosthetists to (new) amputees. One would think an O&P clinic should be easy to find a “good fit” with those odds. You can look in the Classifieds and see a high frequency of a recurring theme. It is like the NFL trying to find the elusive top-notch quarterback. It seems not many exist.
I live in a US News top 30 city in America with low cost of living, great schools and all the bells and whistles that a career minded practitioner would want. The problem is (according to observation and the field consensus that I have spoken to) the available talent pool is low for “top notch” practitioners. Popular thought is that the new practitioners coming in: 1) feel (and act) entitled/privileged 2) do not have the work ethic or practical knowledge to perform at the level of salary demanded and 3) are always on the look-out to jump ship for “the next best thing”. There are exceptions to the rule of course but it seems the Late Generation X and “Why” are producing less “solid” candidates than ever before.
How/where do you find that “NFL QB”? It seems that the draft choices are pretty thin.
Thanks for your input.
Kip Hicks, CPO/LPO-CMCO
President/CEO
Infinity O&P, Inc.
Director of O&P / DME
927 Franklin Street, 2nd Floor
Huntsville, Al 35801
Citation
Kip Hicks, “Where are the best?,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 1, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/237978.
