Evaluating Prosthetic Function With The Unb Test

Functional assessments examine human capabilities and potentials and provide a basis for the individual to realize change, improvement, adaptation or efficiency. These assessments are used as a guide for measuring effectiveness of various interventions Was the intervention a success or not? Today people often refer to these assessments as outcome measurements. These measurements are becoming inaeasingly important in justifying the treatment and interventions of fitting prostheses. With rising costs and cuts in health care prosthetics teams need to develop and use outcome measurements as part of their daily practice. Unfortunately, functional assessments or outcome measurements are in the process of evolving. In prosthetics, teams tend to depend upon observation and subjectiveevaluations to determine the outcome of their interventions To date there have only been two published tests of prosthetic function for children one by David Krebs in 1987, the other by E R. Sanderson in 1985 Since their publication, little was known about how much the tests were used by therapists. A descriptive research study was completed this spring which examined the use by occupational therapists of the UNB Test of Prosthetics Function This paper discusses this study.