Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians' prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.

“Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians' prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.” is a core task performed by Orthotists and Prosthetists. Among the occupation's 15 rated tasks, workers place it 10th by importance (#6 most important). About 95% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Design materials or devices. in Thinking Creatively

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Fit, test, and evaluate devices on patients, and make adjustments for proper fit, function, and comfort. · importance 4.8
• Instruct patients in the use and care of orthoses and prostheses. · importance 4.8
• Maintain patients' records. · importance 4.8
• Examine, interview, and measure patients to determine their appliance needs and to identify factors that could affect appliance fit. · importance 4.7
• Select materials and components to be used, based on device design. · importance 4.6
• Repair, rebuild, and modify prosthetic and orthopedic appliances. · importance 4.5
• Construct and fabricate appliances, or supervise others constructing the appliances. · importance 4.4
• Make and modify plaster casts of areas to be fitted with prostheses or orthoses to guide the device construction process. · importance 4.4
• Confer with physicians to formulate specifications and prescriptions for orthopedic or prosthetic devices. · importance 4.0
• Show and explain orthopedic and prosthetic appliances to healthcare workers. · importance 4.0
• Train and supervise support staff, such as orthopedic and prosthetic assistants and technicians. · importance 3.9
• Update skills and knowledge by attending conferences and seminars. · importance 3.8
• Research new ways to construct and use orthopedic and prosthetic devices. · importance 3.7
• Publish research findings or present them at conferences and seminars. · importance 2.8

See all tasks on the Orthotists and Prosthetists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-9386,
  title  = {Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians' prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-9386}
}