Second-year students CindyMarie Mack, Jason Robillon and Nikita Carreiro completed what they believe to be the first study evaluating occupational therapy students’ confidence to assess an individual’s wheelchair skills as well as teach them new skills to apply in clinical practice.

The goal of the Independent Study was to gauge the impact of the boot camp in the short and longer term. The four-hour ‘boot camp’ has been run as part of the MOT curriculum for several years by Dr. Ed Giesbrecht, Associate Professor, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“Occupational therapists are the clinicians that typically teach wheelchair skills to the individuals who are newly prescribed a wheelchair,” said Mack. “So we’re the ones who need to know the skills to transfer them along. An individual’s ability in their wheelchair affects their participation and quality of life. The better their skills, the better their quality of life.”

Three quantitative measures were used to assess perceived manual wheelchair (MWC) skill capacity, confidence in manual wheelchair skills and confidence in assessing, training, spotting, and documenting manual wheelchair skills.

Forty-two boot camp attendees filled out self-reporting questionnaires before and immediately after the session and then four months later. The four-month follow-up was aimed at demonstrating how well students retained what they took away from the hands-on boot camp.

The study found that students’ confidence and skills significantly increased, statistically, across all measures, and gains were retained in all but one measure, that of perceived MWC capacity. Qualitative results collected at the four-month follow-up also revealed an increase in students’ empathy towards wheelchair users – despite the fact that the boot camp did not directly address empathy.

Some participating students thought there wasn’t enough time in the boot camp to master the higher level wheelchair skills taught to them. Others suggested that skill retention could increase with a shorter secondary boot camp or more opportunities to practice the skills developed in the primary boot camp.

Previous studies have looked at what education wheelchair skills users are receiving and showed that education across Canada is varied.

“We hope that people will see our results and understand the effectiveness of boot camps like this. Maybe other occupational therapy programs or even practicing clinicians will see the benefits and seek training like this at school or as professional development,” said Robillon

The boot camp has been at times an optional component of the College’s MOT program, but Mack, Robillon and Carreiro believe their results prove how important and effective it is in preparing occupational therapy students to work with wheelchair patients in the future.

“I didn’t know much about occupational therapy but my dad said I should try it out,” Durette says. “I signed up for Discovery Day and came here to the Bannatyne campus. I fell in love with the profession. They did everything they could to ‘peacock’ the profession and ever since graduating from high school in 2011 I’ve been dedicated to becoming an OT.”

Co-hosted by the University of Manitoba’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, Discovery Day gives Grade 11 and 12 high school students the opportunity to speak with award-winning faculty members, take part in interactive workshops demonstrating real-world medical skills and get a clear picture of what it’s really like to be a health professional.

Now in his second year of the Master of Occupational Therapy program, Durette is excited about the array of possibilities in his chosen field.

“During a fieldwork placement I was at Community Therapy Services (CTS) and the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities. A lot of it involved wheelchairs and seating and there was also a home care portion with CTS and I absolutely fell in love with that part of the career,” he said. “I like being out in the community and I like getting to know these people in their own context. There were many areas that I maybe could’ve gone into but they did such a good job at Discovery Day a few years back I just wanted to do this.”

The pattern of inspiring future healthcare professionals at Discovery Day may be repeating itself. Gurman Toor, a grade 12 student from Faith Academy, said that he was inspired after attending an info session on physiotherapy.

“I’ve been thinking about what I want to do. I wanted to do chiropractic first but I like the idea of treating the patient so they don’t have problems in the future so that’s why I kind of want to do physical therapy now,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to do something that was a mixture of medical and physical at the same time. Physiotherapy really met in the middle for me.”

More than 370 high school students and teachers from 81 schools across Winnipeg and surrounding areas converged on the University of Manitoba Friday, Nov. 3 to explore careers in medicine, rehab sciences, pharmacy, nursing and other health sciences.

“We’re inviting everyone to the Bannatyne campus to mark this historic day with ceremony, celebration and dialogue,” said Dr. Marcia Anderson, executive director of Indigenous academic affairs at the new institute.

“Ongomiizwin is taking its permanent place in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. This will be a landmark occasion, affirming the University of Manitoba’s commitment to building respectful relationships and creating pathways to Indigenous health, healing and achievement.”

The morning program in the Brodie Centre Atrium is open to all. Anyone who wants to participate in the luncheon and afternoon dialogue sessions can view the schedule and pre-register here.

Ongomiizwin (“Clearing a path for generations to come”) will be the largest Indigenous education and health unit in Canada. It will advance excellence and provide leadership in research, education and health services in collaboration with First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities. Its work will be guided by knowledge keepers and elders.

The institute brings together at the Faculty level three units that were formerly part of the Max Rady College of Medicine: the Manitoba First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research, the Centre for Aboriginal Health Education and the J.A. Hildes Northern Medical Unit.

Ongomiizwin will lead the implementation of the Rady Faculty’s Reconciliation Action Plan, developed in response to the health-related calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

The Action Plan addresses themes such as honouring traditional knowledge; providing safe learning environments; improving support and retention of Indigenous students; educating all students and faculty in cultural safety and anti-racism; and removing barriers to health professional education.

“We’ll have a leadership role in Indigenous health across all the health colleges (dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and rehabilitation sciences),” Anderson said. It’s hoped that the institute will eventually have its own dedicated space. For now, it will occupy four spaces on the Bannatyne campus.

On June 2, the morning program for the launch includes the blessing of Ongomiizwin; remarks by university leaders; a keynote address by Dr. Carrie Bourassa, scientific director of the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health (part of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research); a panel discussion; and a celebratory luncheon featuring Indigenous entertainment.

The afternoon includes breakout dialogue sessions on topics related to the Reconciliation Action Plan, such as admissions policies at the health colleges. “We didn’t want to have a day where we did all the talking,” Anderson said. “We wanted members of diverse First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities to have the space to speak.”

It’s significant, Anderson said, that the institute’s name refers not just to health, but to healing.

“It’s not just about health care for our people. Because of the impact of colonization, the residential schools, the intergenerational trauma, there’s a lot of healing that needs to happen, including at the spiritual level. We take that as part of our core reason for being.”