With our second semester as physical therapy students drawing to close, the MPT1s can be found spending most waking hours studying. Although, throughout the last four months, we have found time for a few study breaks…

MPT1 student Tina Lin donating blood.

We started off the semester with a MPT team donation with Canadian Blood Services. Nineteen MPT1s participated in the “Pint for a Pint” fundraiser with Rain or Shine Ice Cream Shop – a donation in exchange for a pint of ice cream.

MPT1 “Friedman High Average Janes”
Top Row L – R – Laura Kean, Claire Lindsey, Andrea Lowing, Maddie Spanghel, Kira Crover, Lillian Chung, Lindsay Bell
Bottom Row L – R – Lisa Nakagawa, Suzy Kim, Taylor Gibney, Shanna Graham, Hilary Beck, Andrea Lee, Tanya Plaoude
Middle – Robyn Boudreau

The MPT1 all-female dodgeball team “Freidman High Average Janes” returned for their second semester of domination this winter. The MPT1 cohort also sent one team to UBC’s annual Storm the Wall Event. Using grit, teamwork and excellent climbing ability, they received the bronze medal in their category!

MPT1 Students Brendan Ryley, Gillian Hinton, Tanya Plaoude, Samantha Smith, Tom Michie

Despite the growing mountain of new material, students have still found time to exercise both their bodies and minds throughout the semester. Students still bike and run to UBC, meditation relaxation sessions occur over lunch breaks, and snowshoeing getaways have recharged our proverbial batteries.

In the next few weeks, students are anxiously excited to step into their inaugural clinical placements. Students, who are spread from Prince Rupert to Invermere, are looking forward to putting their newly polished clinical skills into practice and proudly represent UBC Physical Therapy.

Reid Mitchell is a MSc candidate in Dr. Jordan Guenette’s Cardiopulmonary Exercise Physiology (CPEP) Laboratory at St. Paul’s Hospital. He holds an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from UBC.

Having grown up in Ontario in an active family that encouraged physical activity, exercise, and sport from a very young age, I often take for granted the benefits and opportunities that accompany regular physical activity. This is especially true in Vancouver, an outdoor oasis, where the ocean meets the mountains and a mild climate plays host to more activities than I could ever imagine. However, not everyone shares the same capacity or tolerance for exercise. Individuals with chronic diseases, for example, are often limited in their physical activities. Consequently, they may struggle with tasks of daily living, such as walking up stairs, doing laundry, or taking a shower. To minimize their discomfort, these tasks are often avoided leading to physical inactivity, which places a significant burden on both the individual and the society at large.

In the CPEP lab, our mission is to better understand the factors that lead to exercise intolerance across the spectrum of health and chronic lung disease. Specific to disease, our aim is to counteract the negative cycle of physical inactivity and worsening symptoms. As a member of this lab, I have had the opportunity to contribute to research that may directly impact the quality of life of those living with chronic obstructive lung disease, cystic fibrosis, and interstitial lung disease. I’ve also played a role in mentoring physical therapy students during their research placement. For example, we recently completed an award winning (CSEP 2016) project which compared the accuracy of non-invasive surface electrode stickers placed on the chest to an invasive esophageal electrode catheter to measure breathing muscle activity as a diagnostic tool for disease progression and exertional dyspnea. One of our research group’s largest projects is a multi-center randomized control trial, that has been implemented at eight different sites across Canada, to determine the impact and feasibility of cycling rehabilitation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis while breathing supplemental (60%) oxygen. My role as an exercise trainer in this study has been eye opening, and I find immense satisfaction in having a direct impact on a patient’s ability to exercise and improve his or her ability to perform physical activity. However, this is just a start. Much more can be done to improve current pulmonary rehabilitation programs.

We are now entering an era of “precision” or “personalized” medicine. Currently, our health care system primarily operates by use of generalized treatment plans for individuals presenting with symptoms common to a particular illness. However, each individual is unique in terms of the co-morbidities they present with, the interaction of these different co-morbidities, and the severity of their symptoms. For example, in pulmonary rehabilitation, these patients are limited by immense breathing discomfort coupled with a low tolerance for cycling exercise, the predominant modality used in these programs. Therefore, if we can find ways to reduce their breathing discomfort and allow them to tolerate exercise for longer and/or at a higher intensity, we may be able to optimize the benefits these patients gain from exercise training. One parameter in these programs that has received little attention is cycling cadence, or pedal rate. Recent work in cyclists, suggests that pedaling rate may represent a balance between leg muscle fatigue and stress on the cardiorespiratory system. Pedaling at too high a rate causes excess breathing ventilation, which could exaggerate breathing discomfort. On the other hand, a low pedal rate leads to greater leg muscle fatigue while potentially minimizing breathing discomfort so that exercise duration can be extended. Thus, pedaling rate may be the key to optimizing rehabilitation programs. Even marginal gains in exercise intensity and volume will lead to a host of physiological benefits and an improved overall quality of life.

In order to investigate this relationship my Master’s research project is focusing on the impact of cycling cadence on subjective breathing discomfort; leg muscle activation; the work it takes to breath; as well as leg muscle oxygenation and blood flow. Oxygen is essential for exercise and is dependent on blood flow for delivery to the active muscles. Thus, blood flow to these regions could represent the key to understanding this pedal rate effect. To determine blood flow, we inject a biological tracer molecule (indocyanine green) into the venous circulation while the participant is cycling. The dye travels through the arterial circulation where the concentration of the dye increases in the active muscles and this change in concentration is used to calculate a relative measure of blood flow. Due to the invasiveness of this procedure, my Master’s thesis will be conducted on healthy, highly fit cyclists. However, we hope the results of this novel investigative study will lead to similar projects in chronic lung disease to better optimize rehabilitation programs.

Join us at this “not to be missed” annual event.  This year the forum is the biggest to date and will be held at one of Vancouver’s largest conference venues – the Westin Bayshore. The Forum  will include expert speakers presenting in concurrent sessions.  There will be interesting presentations including rich and dynamic learning opportunities from a range of perspectives: both public and private physiotherapy, from rural and urban BC.  You can join the debate, “New Physiotherapy Grads Should be Mandated to Start their Careers in Public Practice.” The ever popular ‘Buddy Program’ is once again being offered where MPT students have the opportunity to connect directly with practicing physio mentors and there will also be a special Mentorship Session designed just for MPT students.

Carolyn and Ingrid will once again be on site all day at the UBC PT Clinical Education booth. Drop by to say hello, introduce yourself, ask questions, learn more about the new Private Practice Toolkit resource, or enter to win a prize.

The day concludes with a fun networking event gala with veteran broadcaster Jodi Vance as a special guest MC. This evening cocktail and dinner and dancing event provides a chance to wind down and celebrate with your peers after a full day of professional development, networking and trade show activity. The gala also features door prizes, entertainment, and most importantly the presentation of the 2017 PABC Awards of Excellence in Lifetime Accomplishment, Leadership, Clinical Contribution and Professional Contribution as well as our own clinical educator awards.

For more information and to register go to the PABC website

Alessio Gallina is an Italian physiotherapist enrolled as a PhD candidate in the Rehabilitation Sciences program

This year I was asked to participate in two seminars back home in Italy to talk about my experience as a PhD student in Canada. From the looks and comments of the physios and students in the audience, I realized something I had forgotten in my time here. How incredible can sound the idea of studying in a Physical Therapy department leading research in different rehabilitation fields, or the idea of a physio program taught almost entirely by physiotherapists, where students are not only taught the best evidence, but they hear it from the researchers who lead those studies, or even the idea that physiotherapists can do research, and do it well!
Hi everyone. My name is Alessio Gallina and I am an Italian physiotherapist enrolled as a PhD candidate in the Rehabilitation Sciences program at UBC. Currently I am investigating motor adaptation to pain under the guidance of Dr. Jayne Garland.

When I obtained my BSc in Physiotherapy in 2009 I was curious about the possibility of doing in research in physiotherapy, but I came across a tough reality: in Italy there was little, if any, possibility for a physiotherapist to do research. Shocking, I know! In the whole country -inhabited by almost twice the people who live in Canada- there was only a single physiotherapist with a faculty appointment (associate professor), and no physio- or rehab-specific PhD or research MSc programs. Most courses were, and still are, taught by medical doctors or physiotherapists employed by the Italian national health service, with little or no time dedicated to prepare for classes as far as I know. And, sadly, many colleagues were convinced that “physios don’t do research”.

I was able to start to do research in an engineering lab, first as a part-time volunteer which quickly progressed to a full-time job. The laboratory for Engineering of the Neuromuscular System at the Politecnico di Torino is one of the leading labs for surface electromyography, a technique used to estimate muscle activation and hence relevant for physiotherapy. Through the projects I worked on in that lab I got in touch with physiotherapists doing research in countries such as Canada, Australia, Belgium, etc. I was especially impressed by UBC and Dr. Garland’s research, so I decided to start a PhD in Vancouver. Supported by a Vanier scholarship, I am applying the technical knowledge acquired from engineers to improve our understanding on how motor control changes in the presence of pain. My education also benefited from few months at the Queensland University in Brisbane to work with one of the leading groups in pain adaptation (with the bonus of escaping some of the rainy months of Vancouver!). I also have to say that another great opportunity I had at UBC was the possibility to get involved with studies ran by other labs – either as a researcher or as a participant, there is always something to learn.

Fortunately some changes have occurred since I obtained my BSc in Physiotherapy that make me think that Italian physiotherapy is moving forward. Slowly, of course, but having few more physios employed by universities, an active scientific society, and several people doing their PhD abroad makes me hope that Italy will eventually catch up with countries where physiotherapy is more developed. As an Italian physio, I look up at the Canadian educational and research standards in physiotherapy (and if I practiced here, that would likely apply to clinical practice as well). If Italian academia met those standards, it would be able to contribute to the development of our profession and hopefully result in better care for patients, not only in Italy but around the world. Which is what we all work for, isn’t it? Personally, I will continue to do my best to contribute to health worldwide and to the development of physiotherapy as a science, and to improve physiotherapy education and research in Italy.

When it comes to working with patients living in rural and remote areas, face-to-face instruction, education, and follow-up sessions are not always possible. That’s why many rehabilitation specialists have turned to the growing field of telehealth — using methods such as video-conferencing or information packages — to help bridge the gap and link patients in remote locations with health professionals and information.

Aligning with the Department of Physical Therapy’s social accountability mandate, Instructor and Coordinator of Clinical Education for the Northern and Rural Cohort, Robin Roots works with community partners in rural communities to expand educational opportunities, and provide much needed health services in the North. In partnership with Carrier Sekani Family Services, Robin has piloted a rehabilitation service delivery model that combines in-person community visits with telehealth follow-up. Together with an outreach primary care team of physicians, family practice residents and other health care professionals, Robin and one or two MPT students travel to remote First Nations communities and spend a week providing team-based care. Students are immersed in collaborative practice and given the opportunity to learn about, and practice, culturally safe health care.

Students get a hands on lesson in a cultural practice

Recognizing the role that they have in educating future health care professionals about cultural safety, community members engage students and take them ice fishing or show them other traditional practices. Upon returning to Prince George students conduct follow-up visits over telehealth from the Physiotherapy Plinth Lab. Students learn telehealth is an effective means of follow-up and are exposed to the benefits of electronic charting as a means to improve team based care when professionals are not co-located.  This initiative brings much needed services to First Nations communities who suffer a disproportionate burden of disease and face numerous barriers to accessing rehabilitation services.

From left to right: Shenise Born, Stanley Hung, Carly Nicholson

Stanley Hung, MSc, MPT/PhD Student. Stanley received his MSc in 2014 under the supervision of Dr. Kristin Campbell. He is now enrolled in the combined MPT/PhD program. 

Clinical placements are always an exciting five weeks for MPT students. Learning to apply our classroom knowledge with valuable hands-on experiences is the cornerstone of the MPT Program. Not only do we have the opportunity to practice our clinical skills, we also have the unique opportunity to be in touch with the lives of the people we treat. This is especially true for our clinical placement in Kitimat, BC, where I, along with fellow classmates Shenise Born and Carly Nicholson, spent our fifth placement at Kitimat General Hospital and Health Centre (KGHCH).

The placement at KGHCH offers a diverse learning experience for MPT Students. We had the opportunity to see patients in both the in-patient ward setting and the outpatient physiotherapy services department. This allowed us to practice our acute medical and cardiorespiratory clinical skills we learned in early in the program, as well as the outpatient orthopedic skills we build throughout. This diversity has challenged us to sharpen both of these important skills sets, and to appreciate the valuable contributions of the physiotherapy profession to the continuum of patient-centred care within the healthcare system, which is especially important for Kitimat, BC.

Home to just over 8000 people, Kitimat is one of many rural cities in BC faced with the similar challenge of a shortage in physiotherapy services. As a result, physiotherapists are one of the primary healthcare providers for the people of Kitimat. In the short five weeks, not only did we gain a stronger appreciation for the breadth of services physiotherapy has to offer, I was very amazed by how close we, as interim students, came in touch with the local community, especially the First Nations community. Whether they were returning or new patients, we quickly learned how important it was for us to be there. We were not simply treating individuals; we were making a strong, noticeable impact on the community.

Not to mention – Kitimat is a beautiful city! Rich with snow-capped mountains, ocean water, trees, and all the greatness that the BC wilderness has to offer. The city itself also has a very welcoming vibe; nice people, great coffee and local restaurants, and, most importantly, short commutes!

Thank you Angela Pace for being a great preceptor and Rehabilitation Manager at KGHCH! Thank you to the rehabilitation team and hospital staff for welcoming us with open arms to the KGHCH family! And most of all, thank you to the people of Kitimat for a great clinical and personal experience. This was an eye-opening and empowering opportunity for young physiotherapists, one that we will take with us for the rest of our lives!

The students of the Masters of Physical Therapy program invite you to join in the fun of the annual golf tournament to be held WEDNESDAY JULY 26, 2017 at Gleneagles Golf Course.  This year’s event is sponsored by Jane Software. The reception is sponsored by the Physiotherapy Association of BC and a $5,000 hole in one prize is sponsored by the Investors Group.  There are only 72 spots available so register quickly before it is filled up.  This is a great opportunity to both socialize and recruit.

For registration or sponsorship information contact Samantha Edwards at ubcphysiogolf@gmail.com

UBC Physiotherapy Annual Golf Open 2017 Registration Advertisement

Second year MPT students at Run for the Cure

Thirty students from the Class of 2018 came together to support breast cancer research in the annual CIBC Run for the Cure in early October. Our team placed in the top team fundraisers, raising over $7000 for the Canadian Cancer Society. Some walked, some ran the 5 km, but all had a fun time! Not to mention a well-deserved brain break from the semester.

Samantha Smith

We’ve had another reason to celebrate this month – our very own trampoline gymnast, Samantha Smith was off to Portugal this September to compete in the Trampoline World Cup.  After placing first in the National Trials held in Montreal earlier this year, Samantha received an invite to the World Cup, where she placed 5th overall – a personal best. Samantha, who also serves as the Sports PT BC Representative in our student society, even completed a midterm overseas the night before the final competition! Samantha will finish the season in early November at the World Championships in Bulgaria.

We congratulate Samantha on this notable achievement!

Join these free one hour webinar sessions as MRSc graduates share their clinical research or literature review work. Topics this fall will be of interest to physiotherapists in paediatric practice and those working with rehabilitation assistants. Can’t attend live, or these topics aren’t applicable? Check out the archived sessions.

The Clinical Faculty Mentoring Pilot Program, a partnership between the Office of Clinical Faculty Affairs and UBC CPD, will launch this October, 2017. The program will provide mentorship to support the career goals of clinical faculty in the UBC Faculty of Medicine (MDs) and Department of Physical Therapy (PTs) in various practice settings.
The Physical Therapy arm of this eight month pilot education program will match five junior Clinical Faculty/Clinical Educators (mentees) with senior and more experienced volunteer clinical faculty (mentors). Potential physical therapy mentees were identified by senior clinical faculty members and the PT CPD Coordinator. Some of the mentees will be from northern and rural areas of BC and seek to enhance their clinical skills and ability to teach and support PT students during clinical placements.
An evaluation study will measure impacts on engagement of clinical faculty and self-identified goals of the participants.
This is an exciting clinical faculty development project at UBC and Physical Therapy is proud to be one of the two professions taking part in the pilot.

For more information, contact cf.mentoring@ubc.ca.

Submitted by Jan Lowcock PT CPD Coordinator

The Private Practice Toolkit is up and running! Presently 65% of our graduates are working full or part time in private practices scattered around the province. We don’t have enough clinical placement opportunities in this area of practice to meet student demand. You will find the toolkit both on our UBC website  as well as PABC’s (big thanks to PABC for helping to advertise this as well as hosting it on their website). To date the toolkit has had over 400 hits through our various sites.

The module is interactive and provides solutions to perceived barriers (day to day caseload management, an outline of academic exposure students will have undergone prior to arriving on placement, how the role as a mentor will evolve over a placement).  Also available are resources about the UBC Curriculum, how to assess a student, placement category types, and how to become a clinical educator. We encourage our private practitioners to have a review of the module as it may help to alleviate their concerns. This module is hosted alongside our other EXCEL modules which are a great resource during student placements.

If you want to read firsthand from private practitioners about taking on students see this issue’s contributions from Alumni members Maegan Mak and Gilbert Park.

Additionally, we would also like to encourage all clinical educators to apply for clinical faculty status (http://physicaltherapy.med.ubc.ca/clinical-education/how-to-become-a-ubc-clinical-faculty-member/). This will allow you access to UBC considerable online library. We are hoping that between the toolkit and clinical faculty status, we will be able to recruit more sites and educators who are willing to pay it forward to the future. If you have any feedback on “the Toolkit”, please let Carolyn Andersson (carolyn.andersson@ubc.ca) or myself (anne.rankin@ubc.ca) know.

Paying it forward to the future generations. Gilbert Park and Jessie Wong sharing some clinical gems with new graduate Nadine Stunzi

After completing my last practical placement, the process of finding a physiotherapy job was the first step towards taking my student cap off and adopting a therapist mindset. I had a strong draw towards private practice and the thought of finally getting to use what I learned in the real world with very real consequences had me both excited and nervous.

In school we absorbed so much information as facts and then grouped these facts to store them as knowledge. These facts gave us certainties about the world and knowledge gave us the confidence to navigate the process of treating a patient. I knew that for a certain injury, I could apply a certain treatment, over a certain time frame and achieve a certain outcome. So as a fresh therapist I went out to heal the world and apply all the knowledge I had to positively impact patients. A patient would walk in with an injury I had seen in a book and I would apply the knowledge and techniques at my disposal and hope for a desired outcome. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it would fail miserably. This rattled me and drove me to question the validity of what I knew. I was missing something. How could I have been so unprepared for this?

The reality was that I was as prepared as I could be for this. It is impossible to be taught and experience enough in school to become a great therapist. At best, you come out as a competent and safe therapist. How could I change this?

The lightbulb moment for me came while shadowing some very experienced therapists. They had similar knowledge but they had a vastly different way of applying it and applying it differently to each patient. I desired to learn this elusive method. What I quickly learned was that patients are very unique in their individuality and the same approach did not always yield the same result. That is when it became evident that working with humans is an art. It is through experience we gain the wisdom to artfully apply the knowledge we have to impact patients. Wisdom can be acquired with time, mentoring or taking courses. The latter two options are the routes I took to boost my experience as I felt I could achieve this goal within a fraction of the time it would take with direct patient interactions alone. I spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on courses in pursuit of wisdom beyond my years.

Fast forward to the present and now it has been a few years since I was a student. Through reflection I can easily identify the things I wish I knew as a new graduate. Wishing I had these pearls of wisdom from the start is what draws me to mentoring students. My experience as a new graduate, growing therapist, preceptor and now as a clinic director I can see a need for clinics to provide an environment that nurtures students to bridge the gap between “student therapist” to “therapist”. Too often new graduates are thrown into a work environment with the notion of “You’ll get by with what you have” and “You’ll learn as you go”. This seems terribly inefficient and as an experienced therapist I feel inclined to ensure that new graduates entering into our clinics are well equipped with the essential tools and frameworks to hit the ground running.

When hiring a new graduate, it is based mainly on personality. Skills can be taught, but not personality. New graduates and students entering a busy private practice setting can often feel intimidated and get overwhelmed. Senior therapists are in a position to share tools that we take for granted but can greatly change the therapy game for student or new graduates.

New therapists are integral to the health of our industry and helping future generations be the best version of themselves brightens the future of our profession. So if you ever had someone help you to elevate your game, let’s pay it forward.

MPT student, Ryan Wong, hanging around with physiotherapist Maegan Mak and Silvana Echeverri

My name is Maegan Mak and I am a Paediatric Physiotherapist working in private practice at Kids Physio Group. I graduated from the Master of Physical Therapy program at UBC in 2014 and have worked in private paediatrics since I graduated. When I was in the MPT program the placements I completed were Residential care at Brock Fahrni, VGH ICU, Laurel Place Neurological Rehabilitation, Paediatrics in rural India, Paediatrics at the Child Development Centre in Williams Lake and Orthopaedic Outpatient at VGH. To this day I vividly remember my experiences at each of these placements and implement aspects that I learned into my daily practice. My preceptors played a huge role in all of my experiences and are what made my placements so enjoyable, knowledge-enriched and memorable.

About one year into working as a physiotherapist, Sue Murphy came to do a clinical educators presentation to educate our therapists on what we would need to do as a clinic to have a student, the details of the practical portion of the physiotherapy program and the benefits of having a student for the clinic and therapist. At the time I attended the presentation thinking that eventually I would like to take a student when I had more experience. I honestly believed that I didn’t have enough to offer yet, as I had recently graduated. By the end of Sue’s presentation my mind had been changed and 6 months later, a colleague and I were sharing a Level 3 student! Since the presentation I have now had two students.

My two largest concerns with taking a student were the following: if I could maintain the same standard of care to my patients who were paying out of pocket for treatment and that I was not ready to mentor someone as I was still a new grad. After having the student and reflecting on my experience, I realized that my concerns were false. I found being a clinical supervisor to be beneficial on several levels. It was beneficial for the student, myself, the patients and the clinic as a whole.

The clinic that I work for is quite a niche market, as it is private practice and in paediatrics. The variety of cases seen in our clinic is literally anything requiring physiotherapy for children aged 0-18 years old. Some examples of common conditions I treat are torticollis, plagiocephaly, gross motor delay, developmental coordination disorder , cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, muscular dystrophies, sports injuries, concussions and much more. As you can see, there is so much to learn in order to treat paediatric specific conditions. For a student, it is an amazing opportunity to learn about some of these diagnoses, work with the patients and potentially increase the desire to pursue a career in paediatric physiotherapy. They started by becoming familiar with the facility, other therapists and the flow of the clinic. In the first part of the placement they mostly observed sessions and we had time at the end to debrief and answer any questions. As the placement progressed the student gained more hands on experience, took responsibility in treatment planning, execution and charting. By the end, they were conducting full assessments, treatment sessions, education to patients and families and providing home exercise programs. Although the time to gain independence in this particular private placement may have been longer than other placements, in the end I believe the student was able to gain more confidence with the skills they acquired, especially since it was in such a unique area. I think a private practice placement is beneficial for the student so they can experience a variety of conditions, learn about contractor and employee positions, have responsibility for treatment in set time spots, thus improving time management, and building relationships with patents who come to physiotherapy regularly.

Private practice is also valuable for students because they learn about various funding methods specific to your clinic. In my case, the students have learned about funding from the provincial ministry, charities, extended health benefits and ICBC. Working in a private setting also allows students to work with patients as it applies to their daily life and not a hospital setting. For example, my students were working on goals to help with independence at home, school, improving skills for sport and other activities. Students in a private placement learn the value of building and maintaining a caseload, making it more successful for them if they decide to work in private practice once they graduate. The students also learned how to make fun and engaging environments for kids of all different abilities. Another challenging aspect was perfecting communication skills with the child and with the parent and identifying how to change their language based on who they were speaking with. Overall, private practice
placements are an amazing learning opportunity for physiotherapy students and one that they will remember for the rest of their careers!

Left to right: Silvana Echeverri, Ryan Wong and Maegan Mak

Having a physiotherapy student was also beneficial to myself and my colleague. I found it helpful to have a fresh set of eyes on current patients to help identify new goals I could add to our treatment plan, bring current research knowledge, new exercises/games I could implement and as a resource to educate patients at the end of a session. The student helped write out home exercise programs and teach the kids how to do them correctly. This was helpful because it allowed me extra time to work with another patient and to learn new exercises that the student may be familiar with. I found it very rewarding to teach a student, share my passion and was very inspired by their energy and desire to learn. It kept me on my toes during sessions, having to explain what I was doing, the reasoning behind it and my goals. The questions the students asked me also helped me reflect on my practice and highlighted ways that I could become better. After the five week placement I felt refreshed and my passion
for private paediatrics had grown even more.

Ryan Wong with Kids Physio client, Ashley Blue

My clients LOVED having my physiotherapy students for the five weeks. It has been a month since my last student completed their placement and my clients are still asking if the student will be coming back! Having a student was a positive experience for my clients on so many levels. It allowed them to work with someone new and go outside of their comfort zone to build rapport with another therapist. This was most significant for my long standing patients who attend physiotherapy regularly. The student offered a new outlook for patients and implemented different games and exercises, which were thoroughly enjoyed. Some of my kids get overly comfortable if they’ve been seeing me for a prolonged period and can occasionally not listen well or push the boundaries. The student was a new face, which meant the kids worked hard, and were able to be challenged even more! Once the student finished their placement I was able to continue where they left off and continue progressing the child appropriately. The kids were refreshed, more attentive and ready to be challenged.

In addition to all the benefits discussed above, the clinic also enjoyed having a physiotherapy student. They helped bring the entire team at the clinic together. Everyone jumped in to teach different things they were interested in, show the student the culture of our clinic and reiterate everyone’s passion for physiotherapy. The student was able to become familiar with a private clinic setting and could potentially work at the clinic upon graduation if there was interest from both sides. I am so happy that Sue came to do the presentation at our clinic when she did. I have loved having students every year and look forward to future students who I will get to teach. All the concerns I had initially were quickly clarified and now I am aware of all the benefits to the student, my patients, colleagues, myself and the clinic. As a new grad, I was able to easily relate to the student and recall my experiences during previous placements. I believe this improves my teaching to the student and is a good reminder to reflect on past experiences, patients and set personal learning goals. I strongly recommend having a physiotherapy student in your private practice! You have so much to offer and have the opportunity to positively influence a future physiotherapist.

In an effort to increase the access to rehabilitation services in First Nations communities, UBC Department of Physical Therapy Northern and Rural Cohort Coordinator, Robin Roots has been offering a Rehabilitation Therapy Support Skills (RTSS) training program for First Nations communities in northern BC . This pilot project which is funded by the Ministry of Health was developed in partnership with Tracy Dignum, PT, Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Assistant Program at Capilano University, and Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) – a health care organization offering services to eleven First Nations in North central BC.

The RTSS is a certificate program that prepares learners to work under the supervision of occupational therapists (OTs) and physiotherapists (PTs) in CSFS communities.  Graduates of the certificate program are equipped with skills to support rehabilitation therapy service delivery by assisting clients in managing impairments and developing, maintaining or restoring skills to achieve optimal levels of activity and participation. The program teaches students to integrate Western theories and approaches to rehabilitation with local traditional First Nations healing methods and values.

This initiative is the first step in the development of a sustainable service delivery model that will provide community-based rehabilitation (CBR) to remote First Nations communities. Community based rehabilitation is an internationally recognized model of community development that focuses on involving the community in identifying and delivering health, education and social services they deem as important. Currently, these remote communities are visited by an itinerant registered physiotherapist PT and OT once a month or once every two months. By increasing the capacity of local Care Aides and Early Childhood Educators to assist in the provision of rehabilitation services, the PT and OT will be able to transfer some of the treatment and home programs to these care workers trained in rehab skills who will then be able to work with the community on increasing mobility, function and independence. There is also a focus on the prevention and management of chronic diseases and injuries that result in decreased abilities and function, and on increasing physical activity.

The certificate program consists of 5 modules that cover basic anatomy and physiological principles of injury and healing, proper use of gait aides and common exercises that are prescribed post operatively. The pilot started in June with three early childhood educators, three home care aides and one registered nurse as trainees.  The training took place in Vanderhoof and these learners are currently providing services to the communities of Nadleh, Saik’uz, Stellat’en, Nee Tahi Buhn, Cheslatta, Yekooche, Burns Lake Band and Wet’suwet’en. The courses are primarily taught by Tracy and Robin, while bringing in local expertise such as UBC PT clinical faculty member Hilary Crowley.

Building on a similar training model that was run in northern Quebec, Robin hopes to gather data on community outcomes and through program evaluation that will enable her to make a case for increased rehabilitation services in underserviced regions and expanding this program to other communities.

UBC northern and rural cohort grads, Christina Conrad and Andrew Burkholder, along with current student, David Domes talk about the benefits of practicing in rural and remote areas. Watch the video produced by partner PABC.

Whether you are a healthcare practitioner (any age) or not (aged 40+), please let us know your thoughts by completing a short survey (5-15 minutes). This information is vital to the development of appropriate clinical guidelines for physical activity.  Dr. Michael Hunt and Postdoctoral fellow, Jean-Francois Esculier, PT, PhD. are asking for your input in a survey that will provide vital information for the development of appropriate clinical guidelines for physical activity.  This short survey (5-15 minutes) closes November 30, 2017. Your feedback would be appreciated!

https://survey.ubc.ca/s/running-kneeOA/

Bea Francisco is currently an MSc candidate in Dr Lara Boyd’s Brain Behaviour Laboratory at UBC. She holds an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from UBC. During her undergraduate studies she represented both UBC and Team Canada as a field hockey goalkeeper. She was the 2010 and 2013 Canada West Field Hockey Goalkeeper of the Year and a four-time Academic All-Canadian.

During my time as a national team and varsity athlete, I spent countless hours of practice in order to improve skill execution and performance during competition. Factors such as practice schedules, sleep and nutrition were all considered in order to optimize our training and the learning of motor skills so that we could perform at our best. However, the ability to learn new motor skills (also termed motor learning) is highly important for functioning in everyday life. As we age, our ability to perform motor tasks declines, which can have a strong impact on activities of daily living. With an increased aging population, there is an urgent need to explore cost-effective rehabilitation strategies for motor impairments due to aging and neurological injury such as stroke.
Aerobic exercise may be a promising, cost-effective strategy for optimizing motor recovery. Research has shown that in young healthy adults, performing a single session of aerobic exercise closely in time with motor practice can “prime” the brain for motor learning. Importantly, acute aerobic exercise has also been shown to modulate neural circuits that are involved in the motor learning process in young healthy adults. However, whether these effects extend to an aging population is not yet understood.
My master’s project aims to investigate whether performing 20 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling exercise immediately prior to practicing a motor task can enhance motor learning in healthy older adults, compared to a resting condition. We are also using non-invasive brain stimulation to understand whether aerobic exercise modulates neural circuits underpinning the motor learning process in this population. This work will be an important first step towards the development of evidence-based guidelines regarding the role of exercise as a personalized neurorehabilitation strategy. If you want to learn more about this line of research in the Brain Behaviour Laboratory, please click here: http://brain.rehab.med.ubc.ca/research/current/exercise-and-motor-learning/