UBC Master of Rehabilitation Science Blog

Heather Burrett (left) and Anne Leclerc, Master of Rehabilitation Science Fall 2011 grads

The tradition of holding a reception honouring the most recent graduates from the UBC Rehabilitation Science Graduate programs is well established now and serves as an opportunity for the graduates, the faculty, family, and the ever expanding rehabilitation community to celebrate their accomplishments.  On November 24, Sue Stanton, Director of the Master in Rehabilitation Science program and Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy (OS&OT) was the MC for the evening and began the formal speeches with the following:
“People with disabilities have it… Marathon runners have it… and graduates also have it — in spades. What is it? Persistence and determination to get a fix on a goal and work as hard as they know to reach that target. Tonight we are here to honour all of the graduates and to recognize the result of these important attributes.”

The Fall 2011 graduates include:  Rick Celebrini receiving his Doctor of Philosophy, Sandra Hale, Sarah Neil and Jeanie Zabukovec , their Master of Science, and Marjorie Berry, Heather Burrett, Delicia Jackson, Anne Leclerc and Elaine Widgett, their Master of Rehabilitation Science.

Also present at the reception were honoured guests from the UBC Faculty of Medicine: Dr. Peter Leung, Associate Dean for Graduate and Post Doctorate Education, Dr. Brenda Loveridge, Associate Dean of Health Professions, and Dr. Jayne Garland, Head of Department of Physical Therapy.

Dr. Leung offered a few words on behalf of the Dean of Medicine, who was unable to attend. He began by expressing how deeply honoured he was to be present and proud of the accomplishments of the graduates and the growing reputation of the programs as the best in North America and in the world. Dr. Leung described the grads as the best ambassadors for the programs, given they were leaders in rehabilitation science whether their studies advanced science, theory or found solutions to workplace problems. He suggested that their studies may be some of their most treasured memories of their professional lives, and that the relationships established will continue in the future helping to support and celebrate future accomplishments. Dr. Leung concluded with commendations of the graduates’ hard earned achievements and looked forward to their further contributions to the advancement of the science of rehabilitation and promotion of physical, mental and social well being among people of all levels of ability.

Dr. Lyn Jongbloed, who is also a member of the OS&OT Department and oversees the Phd and MSc programs, introduced Sandra Hale, who spoke on behalf of the MSc graduates. In addition to expressing the shared happiness of completing their degrees, Sandra paid special tribute to the research participants because, in Sandra’s words, “without them, we would not be able to do what we do.”

Rick Celebrini, who was the sole recipient of the Doctor of Philosophy degree, admitted that he had no idea of what he was getting into 7 years ago but can probably be described as not only a marathon runner but a tri-athlete. While completing his PhD, Rick recounted other dear and important mileposts. He became a husband, father of three kids, chief therapist for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games, and dealt with the emotional impact of the death of his father. Rick notes that although these don’t act as credits in accomplishing a Phd., he credited and named many people who were part of his support team and who helped him balance family and career goals.

MC Sue Stanton concluded the formal speeches of the evening with four principles Rick Hansen offered in this book Going the Distance: Seven steps to personal change.
1.    Recognize that goals are both objective and subjective; objective in that you accomplished them and subjective in terms of how you feel about them;
2.    Take responsibility for your success – recognize that your actions actually created this end project;
3.    Celebrate your success [as we are doing this evening]; and
4.    Identify the ingredients of your success so can you apply the recipe to your next goal.

Many thanks to Andrea Walus and Sally Clark for a successful reception that was memorable for the graduates and all the members of their support teams.

Paul VanWiechen who is beginning his major project research in the MRSc program was contracted by the National Post to write a bi-weekly column called “Educated Exerciser” in the Body and Health section of the paper.

Paul wrote…
Over the coming months, I’ll share what some of the people at the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, the American College of Sports Medicine and others are doing to help us think differently about being active.
You can read more of his first column which appeared on October 18 at: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/heart+smart+workout/5564892/story.html

Paul VanWiechen is an exercise physiologist and director of exercise physiology at Cleveland Clinic Canada which provides executive physicals and wellness counselling in Toronto.

Congratulations Paul!

The Online Technology 4 Occupational Therapy group is sponsoring a 24-hour conference on World Occupational Therapy Day. Check out the program and consider viewing one or more sessions. Recent (2010) UBC Master of Occupational Therapy grad Doug Herasymuik is presenting on his international fieldwork experience.

The program site has a link to an international clock so you can schedule your time. Last year, the sessions were very stimulating and it was interesting to see how well the technology worked around the world. Although I couldn’t participate in many of the sessions due to work priorities, I did stay ‘tuned in’ for the day – was like having the radio on and tuned to a station just for OT! It’s definitely worth a try.

Another hectic September is drawing to a close and despite some glitches everyone seems to have survived and is settling into the term. We experienced the fewest Vista difficulties so kudos to everyone at UBC IT Services for both pro-active strategies and quick fixes. They work long hours and many weekends to help deliver a trouble-free learning environment.

Thanks to everyone for accepting the Permanent ULRS (PURLS) into your studies. Respecting UBC copyright we no longer post PDFs of e-readings in the courses but if logged into the UBC library with our CWL ID the readings are just a click away with the PURLS. More kudos to Administrative Manager Andrea Walus, work study students Michael Haack and Judy Cu, and librarian Charlotte Beck for the countless hours spent finding and testing the PURLS, especially for off-campus access.

This Fall we admitted 26 new learners to the online programs: 8 Master of Rehab Science Learners; 6 Graduate Certificate learners (many we hope will transfer into the MRSc or MSc program) and 12 McMaster learners. We also welcome McMaster instructor Aileen Costigan who brings her enthusiasm and a keen interest in augmentative communication into her teaching in RHSC 501/ RS 705 Evaluating Sources of Evidence – all the way from Ithaca College in New York State. She joins returning instructors: Sandra Bressler, Dale Graham, Wilma Jelley, Ben Mortenson, Karen Pontello, Sue Stanton and Darene Toal-Sullivan.

An ability to read and think critically, create stimulating opportunities for learning, and a passion for learning are among the characteristics of effective teachers that Mary Clark possesses in spades.

I was thrilled to learn that Mary, the Associate Director of the Rehabilitation Science Online programs, and an online course instructor, was to be awarded one of only three University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine Clinical Faculty Awards for Excellence Teaching. The award was one of very few presented in person at the annual Faculty awards reception held at Sage Bistro at UBC on May 31.

Dr. Michael Nimmo, Director, Clinical Faculty Affairs Presents Award to Mary Clark

Mary began teaching courses in the Faculty of Medicine in 2006 when she designed and taught RHSC 581, ‘Writing to Enhance Practice’, an elective course in the online, UBC, Master of Rehabilitation Science program. Since then she has led the ongoing development of RHSC 581 and the Graduate Certificate course, RHSC 503, Reasoning and Decision-Making to ensure they remain current. Keeping up with the latest knowledge and research to inform course development and teaching is as important to Mary as contributing to knowledge development through research.

Rehabilitation Science online learners recognize well how Mary’s facilitation style in discussions and feedback on assignments helps them to apply their new knowledge to practice, and contributes positively to their learning experience. As one learner said, “she went above and beyond any expectations I had of a prof – and that made me feel that my learning was important to the whole university faculty, not just myself – or her.”

We are very fortunate to have Mary as a member of the Online Programs’ administrative and teaching team.

Please join us in congratulating Mary on this important award.

Sue Stanton, Director, Rehabilitation Science Online Programs

Although Lori was not able to attend this Spring’s convocation, she takes a special place in the history of the program as our 30th graduate. Lori is a physical therapist on acute orthopaedics at the Ottawa Hospital – Civic Campus. Her reasons for taking a master’s were to be ready for new opportunities created by the expanding scope of physical therapy practice.

At the grad reception held on Tuesday, May 24, Lori’ s research supervisor Dr. Lesley Bainbridge read the following message sent by Lori who is currently on holidays in Ireland.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words while I’m out of the country.

From my very first post in my first course, Evaluating Sources of Evidence, to sending off my final revision of my major project, this has been an amazing journey. As with any journey, there have been challenges, both academically and personally. Since the fall of 2007 when I started, deadlines have come and gone, and courses were completed, one by one. I have watched two children graduate from high school and one from college. I have said goodbye to my grandmother, a nephew and my father-in-law, and celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. In addition to my very patient husband, the one constant throughout the four years has been my laptop. While not occupying half of our dining room table, it has traveled to England, France, and New York City. Now on its last legs, it has been replaced by a much lighter, cooler iPad.

In addition to all that I learned through the course of my degree, I learned a few truths.
1.    Don’t leave submissions until the last minute: the server may be down!
2.    Having tech support in the guise of teenagers is invaluable.
3.    Back everything up-twice! USB sticks do die!
And finally,
4.    What an amazing world we live in, where I can sit in my pajamas in my dining room in Ottawa and discuss common issues with a classmate in Hong Kong!

I would like to thank Lesley Bainbridge for her invaluable support and guidance over the past year while I completed my final project.

Thanks must also go to Sue Stanton who regularly checked in during the final course even when she was south of the equator and to Andrea Walus who answered questions no matter how silly they seemed. Finally, I would like to recognize all the learners and instructors I met, worked with and learned from during this degree.

It has been an amazing four years and I have highly recommended this program to my colleagues. One actually listened to me and began her own journey in the fall of 2010!

Lori’s research entitled Isolation and the Older Adult: Best Practices for Physiotherapy Interventions suggests that physiotherapy intervention should be frequent, aimed at preventing loss of function, and started early within a patient stay to prevent de-conditioning in older adults on isolation in acute care. For the full abstract, visit the program website.

Congratulations Lori – may you seize, as a master of rehabilitation science, the new opportunities that await you.

The Golden Gala will celebrate 50 years of UBC Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy.  The event will take place Saturday, May 28 at 7 pm at the River Rock Hotel and Casino in Richmond.  There will be lots of food (including a sushi station, hor d’oeuvres and a chocolate dipping station), entertainment, and a no-host bar.  To learn more about this event, click here.

What is so great about learning online? I think that is a question a lot of our prospective learners ask themselves when looking into our program. Quite a few of the inquiries that I get this time of year relate to this very issue.  Most of the learners are interested to hear that they are not required to be in Vancouver for any of their courses and can still maintain their full-time work status. The learner’s experience is just as rich if not richer for some than in the traditional face-to-face lectures. Job Postings magazine recently featured our program in an article, the cyber campus, and discussed whether one can still obtain the social and networking experiences with studying at a cyber campus.

See what our learners say about the program.

For more information on admissions see the Master of Rehabilitation Science program website.

Learners who completed the course Evaluating Sources of Evidence last Fall, are starting to post their Critically Appraised Topics (CATS). CATS begin to provide direction for practice by asking a clinical question, reviewing the literature and summarizing the best available research evidence on the subject. Download any of the following or previously posted CATS on the Master of Rehabilitation Science program website.

Brown, J. (2010). The Effectiveness of Removable Walking Casts and Total Contact Casting in Decreasing Healing Time of Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Evans, A. (2010). Support for aerobic exercise training in heart failure (HF) patients.

Holuboff, B. (2010). Does mobilization of the acutely ill elder on day of admission decrease their risk for developing delirium?

Richter, A. (2010). Is BAT or mCIMT more effective in producing improvement in affected UE ADL performance post stroke/CVA?

Shah, M. (2010). There is evidence to suggest that inpatient rehabilitation helps improve functional outcomes for elderly patients with hip fractures

A common New Year’s Resolution among health professionals is to consider some type of upgrading or new learning. Each January there is a jump in the number of emails requesting information about the Master of Rehabilitation Science program. Although the application deadline isn’t until April 30 it is wise to start contemplating a master’s early, as the paper work itself can take a few weeks.

In addition to the information for prospective learners on the MRSc program website, I recently came across an article that captures many of the same experiences and pay-offs that our graduates report. It is written by a neurosurgeon who returned to do a professional master’s in bioethics.
Back to School Days by Mark Bernstein in Academic Matters, October/November 2010.

It’s definitely worth a read.