Medical appliance technician
Builds, maintains, and repairs medical support devices like braces, artificial limbs, arch supports, and other surgical appliances.
Will AI replace medical appliance technician jobs?
AI changes jobs more often than it replaces them. How much AI can help with this work: Low. More AI overlap than 8 in 100 jobs. AI touches a small part of this work. Most of the job happens with your hands, your body or in person. 0% of this job’s working time is already spent on tasks people bring to AI at work (Anthropic Economic Index). Based on Microsoft research on real AI use at work, matched to the tasks of each job in O*NET.
What AI already helps with
- Read prescriptions to decide what device and materials are needed
- Make or receive casts of patients' bodies or limbs as patterns
- Take body or limb measurements from patients for building devices
What stays human
- Repair, change, or maintain artificial limbs, braces, and supports to specs
- Polish artificial limbs, braces, or supports using grinding and buffing wheels
- Make braces and artificial limbs from plastics, metal, and leather using tools
10-year outlook · USA
Expected change in the number of these jobs by 2035: +3.5%. Typical pay: $48,030 a year. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. German figures differ, but the direction is usually similar.
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