Foreward
C. Michael Schuch, CPO, FISPO
Welcome to the first issue of the 1996 year, Volume 8, Number 1.
The JPO editorial board recently conducted their annual meeting in which we review the previous year's activity and attempt to
set the course for the next few years. I would like to pass along a
few items of interest to our readers.
Each year, the JPO editorial board members vote for the Article of the Year from articles published during that year. For 1995,
the winners are:
- First place: "Physiological Gait Analysis of Type IIIC Tibial
Limb Salvage Patients Versus Traumatic Transtibial Amputees"
by David H. Nielsen, PHD, PT, et al. (Volume 7, Number 3)
- Second place: "Seating Orthosis Design for Prevention of
Decubitus Ulcers" by J. Martin Carlson, MS, CPO, et al. (Volume
7, Number 2)
- Third place: "Survey Research and Measurement Error" by
Terrie Nolinske, PHD, OTR/L, CO (Volume 7, Number 2)
The members of the JPO board serve staggered, four-year
terms of appointment. It is with both regret and professional admiration that I announce John W. Michael, MED, CPO, FISPO,
completed his second term of appointment to the board at the end
of 1995. John always has been a reliable and expedient reviewer
of manuscript submissions, and his expertise and input will be
missed. Of course, we hope we can continue to count on his fine
writing skills through continued submissions of his own manuscripts for publication in our journal. Hats off to John for many
years of dedication and service to the JPO during a time of
change and growth.
New appointments to the JPO board are the joint responsibility of the presidents of AOPA and the Academy since the journal
is a joint publication between the two organizations. Thomas M.
Gavin, CO, was appointed to serve a four-year term with the JPO
board beginning Dec. 1, 1995. Tom brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge about research and publishing; not only
is he a previous first-place winner of the JPO Article of the Year
award for 1993, he also received the Academy research award that
same year.
While on the subject of terms of service, I am entering my final
year as editor of the JPO. Sometime during the coming year, the
1996 Academy and AOPA presidents will jointly appoint the next
editor for a four-year term beginning Dec. 1, 1996.
In previous forewords I have written about the ongoing Research Forum, envisioned, organized and guest edited by Thomas
R. Lunsford, MSE, CO. Although we offer only one Research Forum article in this issue, we will publish a minimum of two such articles in the next four issues. Our goal is to finalize this forum in
the first issue of 1997 so that as my last duty as editor, I can work
with Tom Lunsford and the JPO staff to pull all 35 articles of the
series into an anthology text on research in orthotics and prosthetics. We hope to have this anthology available at the Academy's Annual Meeting in San Francisco in March 1997. More JPO
plans will be presented in the future.
I would like to once again comment on the need for and paucity of case report articles. In this issue, we have our first Case Report Forum article since we began the concept of forums in 1994.
In "Observations of Ice-Skating Prostheses Developed for a
7-Year-Old Transtibial Amputee," the authors report their single
case experience with a young girl who sustained bilateral transtibial amputations and the steps toward her return to ice skating.
This article documents positive outcomes with specific components and the rationale for choosing different components at various points in her ice-skating rehabilitation.
Again, I call for more manuscripts reporting on case (single or
multiple) outcomes; such articles establish outcomes support for
techniques, components and/or systems. Whether one reports on a
young child successfully reaching ADL milestones with the use of
a myoelectric prosthesis or on improved skin and comfort outcomes with the use of new socket material interfaces, documentation in O&P literature is critical; likewise with unsuccessful outcomes. Your documented experiences may lead other practitioners and patients facing similar challenges to quicker solutions, or
better yet, lead them away from negative outcomes.
During 1995, we saw a decline in the number of articles submitted for consideration for publication in the JPO. Some postulate that our journal has obtained the reputation of having overly
stringent acceptance standards, or that only research articles are
acceptable because of our growing emphasis on research. Neither
postulation is true. Yes, we have been emphasizing research recently; that is a natural evolution of the educational maturation of
our profession. However, we solicit and accept many types of articles for the JPO. The flexibility that our forums (International
Forum, Educational Forum, Case Report Forum, Technical Forum, etc.) offer allows for a great variety of possibilities. Do not be
intimidated by the thought of publishing in our journal. The editorial board rarely accepts a manuscript on initial submission; 95
percent are returned with positive suggestions for improvement.
We try to work with authors. Very few manuscripts are ever rejected outright. So let us hear from you; you owe it to your profession and your personal professionalism to contribute to O&P's
literature.
Finally, I would like to wish all of our readers, authors, advertisers, staff, reviewers and board members best wishes for the new
year; may you face the ever-growing challenges within our field
with determination and tenacity. I wish you all success in the coming year.
C. Michael Schuch, CPO, FISPO
Editor, JPO
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