Written by Robin Roots
You might be wondering how the MPT-North came about, well, pull up a chair, therein lies a story. British Columbia (BC) has the greatest number of Physiotherapists (PTs) per population of any province in Canada, however, it is clear that supply does meet demand as evidenced by the number of vacant PT positions across the province and long waitlists for physiotherapy. The shortage is compounded by a maldistribution of PTs with less than 7% of PTs working in northern and rural regions in BC where approximately 18% of the population resides (Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2018).
Research indicates that health professionals are more likely to work in rural locations after graduation if (1) they have a rural background and (2) they trained in a rural location. For decades, a dedicated group of community members in Northern BC, and leaders from UNBC and from UBC, have worked tirelessly to bring first a medical school to Northern BC and more recently physiotherapy and occupational therapy training programs to Northern BC.
My initial awareness of this effort was in 2008 when I attended a lecture given by a prospective candidate for the Chair for a Physical Therapy Program at UNBC. This unsuccessful venture was followed by a draft agreement for a Partnership for a Shared MPT program and successive proposals submitted to the government. In November 2011, the BC Government finally made an announcement to fund physiotherapy training in the North—the Northern and Rural Cohort (NRC). While many were hoping for a full academic and clinical program, the NRC supported clinical education in northern and rural communities for 20 UBC MPT students.
To build capacity for clinical education across the North, the NRC program engaged Northern Health in joint initiatives such as the Prince Rupert Interprofessional Student-led Model (PRISM) Clinic and the Prince George Cardiac Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program and added physiotherapy services to Central Interior Native Health. UNBC was designated the clinical hub for the NRC, where a Physiotherapy Plinth Lab—a state-of-the-art teaching and learning space—was constructed to support MPT students on clinical placement in Northern BC and continuing professional development for Physiotherapy clinical faculty and clinical educators. The lab was the impetus behind running a proof of concept for academic distribution connecting NRC students with their counterparts at the UBC Point Grey campus – illustrating that distributed physiotherapy curriculum could be done.
The first NRC students graduated in 2014 and while the numbers are just reaching statistical significance, approximately 43% of NRC graduates end up working in northern or rural locations after graduation as compared with 7% of graduates in the regular (non-NRC) MPT cohort. The robust evaluation of practice outcomes was added to the nearly annual submissions to the provincial government for every permutation of program expansion and program model that would see more MPT seats and a training program in Northern BC—I lost count after the eighth proposal submission.
All the while, a small but vocal group under the name Physiotherapists for Northern Communities continued to press the provincial government at every political function possible for a full academic program in the north including annual invitations to present to the Select Standing Committee on Finance.
Finally, the news came on May 24, 2019, when Minister Melanie Mark came to UNBC and announced the expansion of the UBC MPT program to 100 seats including 20 MPT seats located at UNBC starting September 2020. She also announced an incremental increase in seats for occupational therapy including a northern and rural cohort transitioning to a distributed program at UNBC by 2022. I am sure that the cheers from folks in northern and rural BC could be heard across the province! Many hours by many folks from many sectors are behind bringing the MPT North to life—it is another example of, to paraphrase Margaret Mead, how a small group of thoughtful, committed people can bring about change.