Student Blog

Hi everyone!

That’s a wrap on our Orthotic Management of the Spine class! I can’t believe how fast this semester is going. We want to extend a big thank you to all of our guest speakers throughout this class. We have learned a ton of valuable information that we will carry with us throughout the rest of our time here at IIOP and in our future careers. This week we had guest lectures on Scoliosis and the Boston brace, as well as a HALO lecture and demonstration! We also finished our custom bivalved TLSOs, and other skill sets learned along the way. For many of us, this was our first time using the ovens to thermoform plastic, and I’m sure I’m not the first person to say that it is not easy! A few groups had to pull their plastic multiple times; however, we worked as a team and had the constant support of our instructors, so we could all pull our plastic successfully to create the brace. We have a few days off to relax and gear up for our next class of the semester, Prosthetic Management of the Lower Limb I! Check back soon, and thank you for reading!

Sam Bousman

Hi Everyone! 

We are halfway through Orthotic Management of the Spine and here are some things we’ve been up to! First, we would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Kristian from The National Scoliosis Center for coming in and talking with us about scoliosis. He gave a very informative and interactive lecture, and we had the chance to go over some case studies with him at the end of the day as well. Another thank you goes out to the American Heart Association for coming in and giving us our Basic Life Support Training! We are currently working on our custom TLSO’s, it has been so fun to cast each other, fill our plaster molds, and really see our work come to life in the lab. Our class works so well together as a team, and it is obvious that everyone is enjoying what we’re doing! At the end of the week, we will fit and deliver our TLSO’s, so check back to see how they turn out, we can’t wait! 

Thanks for reading, 

Sam Bousman 

Hi everyone!

We have been up to a lot lately here at IIOP. Last weekend was the Gasparilla parade which was so much fun! IIOP provided us with a front-row tent to the parade, and we all caught so many beads and had a wonderful time together; we can’t wait for Gasparilla 2024!

The sophomore class also finished up our second course of the semester, Clinical Evaluation Tools. This class provided us with patient interaction skills such as the patient interview and SOAP note writing, range of motion testing, and manual muscle testing. We had our final exam and practical on the last day of the course, and we were definitely nervous, but everyone did great. Next week we will begin our third class of the semester, Orthotic Management of The Spine, so check back soon to see what we’re working on!

Thanks for reading,

Sam Bousman

Hi everyone!

Reflecting on an amazing week for the Sophomore cohort! We finished up our first class of the semester with plaster casting! It was such a great experience and I loved looking around the room and seeing how excited and proud all of us were. We also received our White Coats on Friday! This is a huge step in our journey to becoming CPO’s and we could not be more thrilled to enter into this next phase and start working with patient models in a few months. This cohort is truly starting to feel like a family, and to be experiencing all of these milestones together is amazing! The ceremony was wonderful, and it was so special to have our families and friends in town to cheer us on. Next week we are moving into our Clinical Evaluation Tools class, and we have the Gasparilla parade, so check back soon for more updates. Thank you all for reading!

Sam Bousman 

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We are back at IIOP and have officially started our lab classes! It has been so exciting getting to know the machinery and the different techniques to go along with them. We are in our Introduction to Laboratory Skills and Materials in Orthotics and Prosthetics class. This class gives us a great introduction to all the tools and machines we will be using for the rest of our time here at IIOP and in our future careers! We have also been able to interact with the senior class who recently got back from their clinical rotations! It has been great getting to know them and asking them for tips in the lab. This week, we had our back-to-school BBQ, which was given to us by Grace Prosthetics! We were so appreciative, and the food was amazing, as always. That’s all for this week but check back next week for more lab projects as well as our White Coat Ceremony!

Thanks for reading,

Sam Bousman

Hi everyone! 

We have officially completed our first semester here at IIOP. Everyone spent so much time studying and the hard work paid off. I am so proud of my classmates and cannot wait to see what is in store for us over our next 3 semesters here. After final exams, our class attended the senior symposium which took place on December 7th. It was so cool to see what each of the seniors chose to do their research projects on, and it was a great way to start brainstorming different topics that our class can research for our future symposium! The freshmen class would like to extend a huge congratulations to the graduating seniors! They have been great role models for our class, and it has been so fun talking with all of them between classes to ask for advice and any other questions that we might have about clinical, residency, and our future semesters here at IIOP. We wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors. That’s all for this semester, check back in January to see all of us back in the lab! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sam Bousman 

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We are gearing up for final exams, and everyone is studying so much. This week we completed our second journal club assignment for Pathology class. Everyone found two research articles related to O&P, and then in groups, we discussed any similarities, differences, or limitations that we found within our articles and presented them to the class. This was a helpful exercise and was good practice for finding relevant research articles for our projects in the upcoming semesters. In Neuroanatomy and Anatomy class this week, we were put into groups and assigned individual chapters/lectures to review for exams. We presented our topics to the class, which was a great refresher heading into next week. We are so excited to be just about done with our first semester here at IIOP, and we can’t wait for what’s to come. Check back next week and wish us luck on our final exams! Thanks for reading.

Sam Bousman

So much is happening this week before we head out for Thanksgiving break. First, we had Student Government board elections; your new SGA board members are Reagan Handley (President), me (Vice President), Carolyn Ornato (Treasurer), and Katherine Lahue (Secretary). We are so excited to work together and become more involved in the IIOP community and can’t wait to bring new ideas to the table! There is a new club here at IIOP that is all about research! Shoutout to Cyd Daquila and Kristen Peterson for creating the research club where anyone at IIOP that is interested in research can come together and discuss new findings in the field of O&P and put their own group project together during their time here. Cyd and Kristen gave an excellent presentation that sparked interest in a lot of our class! This week we also gave our semester presentations for Anatomy, and everyone did great. Next week, IIOP is providing us with a Thanksgiving feast at lunch! We are so grateful and are looking forward to enjoying time with friends and loved one’s next week. Check back soon and I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Sam Bousman 

Hi everyone! 

We have started to review for final exams! It is hard to believe they are less than a month away. We have been doing a lot of interactive group activities in Dr. O’s classes to help us prepare. Last week in Anatomy we were partnered up and presented on our assigned muscle group. This was a great way to review the lower extremity muscles from the midterm and continue learning the upper extremity muscles that will be on the final! It was really fun to watch these presentations because each group presented in different ways. We had some groups get creative and make up dance moves to demonstrate the muscle actions. On Thursday a group of us went to Trivia which was also so fun and a great way to bond outside of class! Next week we will give our semester presentations for Anatomy. We have worked very hard on these for about 2 months now, so we are ready to present what we have learned. Next week we will also have SGA elections, so check back to see who your new student government leaders will be! Have a great week and thanks for reading! 

Sam Bousman 

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween weekend! With Gait class being over, we have Thursday’s and Friday’s off for the remainder of the semester! We still have a lot of material to cover in Dr. O’s classes for pathology, Neuroanatomy, and Anatomy, so it has been nice to have a few extra study days! It is so hard to believe we are almost at Thanksgiving break; everyone is looking forward to seeing their friends and loved ones in just a few shorts weeks. We have our semester presentations coming up soon for Anatomy, so we have been working hard on finishing those up as well. That’s all for now, check back next week and thank you for reading!

Sam Bousman