Deploying Protheses for Children

This thesis named: "Problems of usage of prosthetic aids for children" focuses on the nursing care specifics of the child patient after an amputation. The Amputation is defined as removal of the peripheral portion of the body with an interruption of a bone and the soft tissues which allows subsequent prosthetic solution. Prosthesis is externally applied aid, which replace missing or underdeveloped part of a limb eventually the whole limb. The aim of the Prosthetic centers is to offer to its clients the exact prosthetic solution which could fully replace the function of a missing limb and allow the child to live full life without any limitations. The intention of the thesis was to summarize the problematic of the upper and lower limbs amputation into one publication and also to focus this thesis on children and prosthetic aids for them. The reason is that in Czech literature there is no complex information which focuses on specifics for children. The list of synoptic distribution of the types of prosthetic aids was created based on the level of amputation. A large part of this thesis deals with the nursing care, including rehabilitation after amputation and prosthetic solutions. The possibility of the children´s active life with prosthetic aids was mentioned, also how they coped with the loss of a limb. And then the specifics of the nursing care and the attitude of the nursing staff to children and their parents were mentioned too. In the research part of the thesis three aims were set: Find out the limitations or the changes in the family´s life style which has child with prosthesis and the limitations in child´s active life with prosthesis. Ascertain the specifics and the lacks of the nursing care during preparation of children for the prosthetic aid. Based on these following aims the research questions were set: How was the life style of the family with child with prosthetic aid affected? What are the limitations in child´s active life with prosthesis? What are the specifics of the nursing care during preparation of the child for the prosthetic aid? The empirical part of my thesis was processed with qualitative data analysis using technique of the unstructured in-depth interviews. The first research group consisted of seven respondents. Five out of them were parents of the children without the limb and two out of them were children without the limb itself, who were old enough to give us the trustworthy information. The information from the prosthetic technicians was followed with these interviews. The prosthetic technicians clarified us the questions which resulted from reaching the respondents who cannot have all theoretical knowledge regarding the issue. We hope that the results from this thesis will be benefit not only for the medical staff to improve the quality of the nursing care, but also for the respondents who can find the information which was missing till this time