Residency Requirements
Post-graduate clinical training is an extension of orthotic and prosthetic education. Residency evaluation and supervision are stressed as part of the NCOPE accredited residency programs. Residents are supervised by ABC certified practitioners throughout the process of patient care, constructive feedback is provided by the supervisor, and clinical responsibilities are graduated by progressive levels of independence to enhance judgment, skills and clinical expertise.
The range of residency sites is varied including private practices, multi-site practices, hospital based practices, university based practices and rehabilitation facilities. To qualify to be a residency site the facility must be an ABC accredited facility.
Residency allows the ABC certified practitioner to invest in the professional development of the next generation of practitioners.
ABC has a long history of working closely with NCOPE to ensure that people entering the O&P profession are receiving formal preparation related to current requirements for professional O&P practice.
In 1972 ABC created the Educational Accreditation Commission (EAC) to meet the O&P profession’s need for an institutional accreditation program for residency and education programs. The EAC set out to establish criteria to assess and compare O&P curricula. The Standards of Excellence for the Orthotic/Prosthetic Residency Program were later developed and revised to meet the profession’s needs in training orthotists and prosthetists.
In 1991, the EAC was reorganized and became an independent organization renamed the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE). NCOPE carries out its accreditation mission by serving as the deliberative body through which standards for residency programs as well as procedures for accreditation are established.
ABC adopted NCOPE residency as a certification requirement for graduates from educational programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) in 1995.
More about ABC practitioner requirements, including residency, can be found on our Credentialing Page.
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