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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

NCOPE recognizes increasing diversity in the Orthotic and Prosthetic workforce improves lives and strengthens the profession, a key part of the organization’s Mission.

NCOPE’s goal is to contribute to the elimination of health care inequities by focusing on the  Orthotic and Prosthetic educational programs and the clinical residency experience. Through its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee,  NCOPE engages in work to provide knowledge and tools for the orthotic & prosthetic (O&P) education community to advance O&P workforce diversity and build safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments for O&P students, residents, mentors and directors.

NCOPE’s  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee is focused on four key  areas: education; dissemination of data; and professional development.

Education

A foundational piece of doing DEI work is a strong understanding of concepts. The NCOPE DEI Committee focuses on providing educational opportunities to the O&P community in conjunction with

Dissemination of Data

Current research efforts are focused on evaluating and updating data collection to be more reflective of the populations in O&P education.

Professional Development

Inclusive and wholistic admission and employment practices are essential to achieving NCOPE’s goal of “attracting a more racially and ethnically diverse cohort of students to choose O&P as a career so the future workforce better reflects the population it serves. “

NCOPE recognizes the diversity of academic and post-academic residency and anticipates that programs prepare orthotists, prosthetists, O&P assistants, and O&P technicians for a variety of roles, including clinicians, fabricators, researchers, and educators. It is expected that the program’s structure will reflect its mission(s) and aims, and the needs of the community.

 

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