A new beginning

Nowadays, my office is anywhere in the country. As an orthopaedic technician at Manometric, I’m always on the go to get the right dimensions for braces and splints. I usually work at two locations in one day: from The Hague to Arnhem and from Spijkenisse to Amsterdam. Sometimes, I’ll work internally at the hospital and the doctor will send patients straight to me, and sometimes I have consultation hours at the hand therapy practice. My work is very flexible thanks to our portable 3D scanner - all I need is a power outlet.

A specialist can refer a patient to me to find the best brace or splint. Based on their medical indication, I come up with a solution. I used to be limited by the materials we had available, but with our professional team of designers and engineers, so much is possible now. And that’s truly fantastic. I don’t have to make braces out of casts anymore. I used to have to manually adjust those casts. Making casts takes a lot of time, and casts can irritate and damage the skin.

Letting go of the production process and trusting the technology did take some getting used to. But I was quickly convinced by patients’ positive experiences, and I was impressed by how well the braces and splints all fit.

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The story behind the indication

Our 3D scanner can complete a perfect scan in less than a second, and our software makes the alterations, so I have a lot more time for the patient. I can get a much more detailed picture of the patient’s wishes and needs. I want to know the story behind the medical indication: how did these symptoms develop, and how bad are they? What does the patient do in their free time? Do they still work, or are they retired? And do they do heavy physical labour, or do they work in an office? Does the brace have to be waterproof? Is how the orthosis looks important to the patient? All that information helps me to find the best aid.

To me, it’s important for an aid to be tailored to the patient as much as possible.

And that is how we all feel here at Manometric: we don’t settle for an A; we go for an A+! That’s why we always call the patient two weeks later, to hear how they feel about their brace or splint. And if we need to make any alterations, then we do so of course. We go the extra mile for our patients. With that feedback, we can make our scanners and splints better and better.

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Variation, innovation and customer focus

My days are all very different. I work at different locations, meet a lot of people and each hand is unique. My day starts with a quick consultation with the other orthopaedic technicians, sometimes in person and sometimes online. That way, we know what everyone is working on and we can help each other out. For me, that’s a good way to start the day. Then, I have my consultation hours at various locations.

In the background, we’re always working to improve our process and our product. To do so, we as orthopaedic technicians work with our engineers, our designers and with the patient. Then, we make a test brace and make adjustments until all parties are satisfied. Working together and innovating that way is so interesting to me: I want to know everything about new techniques in my field. Combine that with satisfied patients, and I’m a happy camper at Manometric.