Stephen (answer): I was around 17 years old when I realized I was good at sciences and interested in athletics. I decided a career in medicine probably wasn’t the best option. It would be  nice to have a career where, instead of having to manage death and dying, you manage life and living. Physiotherapy included science, medicine and athletics. It seemed like a nice fit.

Mark (answer): I wanted to be involved in healthcare and to work with people. I had previously been a physical education teacher and was working with kids all the time. Physiotherapy combined the physical with the intellectual challenge and still allowed me to work together with people.

Stephen (answer): Physiotherapy was broader than I anticipated. I actually hadn’t been in a physio clinic until my third year of university. It was a bit of what I had expected in the clinic environment but once I started school I found out it was a lot broader. I wasn’t aware physiotherapists were involved in the treatment of cardio respiratory, spinal cord injury, heart and stroke programs, home care pediatrics and health promotion.

Mark (answer): Physiotherapy was broader than I thought. Before physiotherapy, I had a narrow view of what it was. Once I got into school, I learned quickly there are many ways physiotherapists can help people.

Stephen (answer): Balancing the volume of work and life outside of school. It's important to have a good work-life balance. There is an enormous volume of material but also trying to have an active social life.

Mark (answer): My biggest obstacle as a student, was poor time management. In school there was a fairly overwhelming amount of material that needed to be covered. Without managing your time, it can be a struggle.

Stephen (answer): After graduation I moved back to New Glasgow to work at a private clinic. I was a physiotherapist for six months before I took on the role of Clinic Director. As Clinic Director, I learned the business side of physiotherapy. I then moved from New Glasgow to Halifax to work at in a private clinic. The clinic focused a bit more on long-term disability and chronic disease management. From there I found I needed a change in what I was doing. This led me to look into doing home visits. When I did the home visits, I found the impact I had on people to be greater than when I was working in a clinic. Essentially, from working in the Halifax clinic and using my business experience from working in New Glasgow I started my own business doing home visits. Today, I can proud say I've recently hired two new physios and we’re slowly branching out. I’m also helping out with some of the labs at the School. I also do some vacation coverage in a few different clinics.

Mark (answer):I started out in a private practice clinic. The particular clinic I was with dealt with a lot of injured workers and higher level, sort of tier two and tier three businesses. This is tough coming out of school because you’re so focused on your assessment and treatment skills. You could have the correct assessment and treatment plan but you won’t necessarily get the outcomes you want. Since then I’ve worked in public health care in a variety of positions at Capital Health doing float coverage. I basically went anywhere people asked me to go. I worked in ICU,  the rehab centre and in outpatients. I got to cover a very broad spectrum. I would follow some people as soon as they got to ICU to the rehab centre. It gave me the perspective to step back and really think about what we’re doing with people at every stage. 

Stephen (answer): My experience at the School was positive, so I wanted to give back. Not relive it but experience it again. I also have the opportunity to know where I had challenges and can share them with the students. The students can learn from my mistakes and take advantage of my experiences.

Mark (answer): I feel I missed out on some of the education components to my degree. Being able to come back and “help out” is bit of a two way street. I’m reinforcing the learning that I had previously done as a student, so it’s helpful for me. One of my biggest frustrations as a student was feeling the gap between the academic research side and the realistic clinical side. By giving back, I can help to merge those two from a student perspective. As a student you may ask, how am I going to implement that or how is that going to be applicable to my practice or my learning? I try to bring more of a clinical side of the critical thinking. I'll ask students questions that aren’t in the lab to make them think why we are doing what we’re doing. I try to paint a picture that makes them think about how to implement that. I think students are happy to have a real-world example and be able to discuss it out without the pressures of you’re right or wrong. Having an open dialogue and a relaxed environment helps. Putting students in an environment where they can think critically without necessarily having the pressure of being right or wrong.

Stephen (answer): “Good is the enemy of great.” Don’t just settle at being good, you have to work as hard as you can to be great in every aspect of your life. You need a work-life balance. You also need to work hard in everything you do. “No one has ever climbed a mountain without going up hill.” You need to realize that when you start physio school it’s a mountain, and it’s going to be hard. There is no way around it and no one finds it easy. It’s important to know that it’s hard and expect that. Don’t let anything bog you down.  You just have to keep working at it.  Don’t settle to be just good at something, you have to be really great at it.

Mark (answer): You need to have a plan on how to manage your time.  It’s great to meet new people and you’re going to want to do a lot of social things you just don’t need to be doing it every weekend. Make sure to budget your time and try to be  opened minded. In the clinical world you want to use evidence performed decisions on what you’re trying to do with your patients but at the same time there are going to be multiple ways to do that. You can’t have the expectation that someone’s going to give you a cookie cutter approach; it just doesn’t work that way. Most importantly, absorb the information, study and learn as much as you can but then make sure you’re going to have a justification for every reason you choose something. There's not going to be a black and white, yes/no answer - so appreciate that while much of our profession is a science, there truly is an art to physiotherapy.

Stephen (answer):  I think there’s lots. The best example is being a critical thinker. Every good physiotherapist is a strong critical thinker. Approach every situation with what is the route cause. Back pain isn’t just back pain, you know there is a route cause.  You need to think critically about what it is you’re doing and how it applies to treatment. I think in life it makes you question, what’s the research behind that?  You’re always looking at things through a critical lens, with a critical eye. What’s the whole story and what’s going on.

Mark (answer): One of things we promote here at Dalhousie, along with other programs is the ICF model (international classification of function). You look at humans and assess things at an impairment level, like what an actual injury might cause at the tissue or structural level and then you look at how that impacts what activities that they can do. I use these physiotherapy skills in all the accessibility areas that I try to work on. It’s also really important to look at communication. If you want to get the best outcome from your patient, you have to understand what it is you want from them and what it is they’re looking for. You might not always be exactly on the same page but if you effectively communicate back and forth you will get the best outcome for both you and the patient.

 

Stephen (answer): In time I would like to grow AtHomeRehab into a multidisciplinary business. Ideally, adding more therapists to offer a full range of services for people. I'd like it to be a hub for information on home service and for people who are under serviced. A place for people to call and arrange for home physio, a nurse, speech pathology or occupational therapy if their loved one, relative or spouse was just diagnosed with a stroke. Offering a range of services in one location makes it easier for families.

Mark (answer): I enjoy being a clinician but I also like working with students. In five years, I see myself having maintained a caseload of a neuro population at the Rehab Centre and being more involved at the School. I'd also like to see a link between research/academia and the clinical world. If I can figure out a way to potentially deliver curriculum in a more practical way that would be my ideal five year plan.