Emmanuelle Richard

« That's when the relationship started to develop into something more human.»

Emmanuelle Richard, PT student at Université de Montreal.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in Sherbrooke, and later moved to Montreal for CEGEP because I wanted to experience the city and be a city girl! Right now, I study physiotherapy at Université de Montreal. I also volunteer for the ICUBP as the Social Media coordinator, which takes up most of my time these days but it's a very fun and fulfilling position. In my free time, I love to read and I also love to make arts and crafts. I’m also a painter; I mostly work with acrylic but sometimes watercolour as well. I like to paint landscapes; sometimes they come from my mind and sometimes they come from places I’ve been to. It’s a great way to decorate my apartment for free!

Great life hack for sure! You mentioned you’re studying physiotherapy, I’d love to know how you ended up choosing that field.

So for CEGEP I went into the arts and science program thinking I’d continue into aerospace engineering for my bachelor’s. I very quickly realized that physics, math, and engineering just weren't for me. I remember thinking, "I can't do this forever!". This prompted me to pivot towards health sciences almost instantly. Not having considered it much before, I was unsure which field to pursue, so I just applied to a bunch of different programs and ended up getting into physiotherapy. I didn’t know much about it at first, so I figured I’d give it a try. I started looking into it and learned that it actually aligned well with my values and seemed fun as well! What really attracted me towards it was that it's essentially medicine but without pharmacology. It consists of purely using the human body and optimizing what is already there. I find the human body fascinating; they can heal themselves impressively well in favourable conditions, by adopting healthier habits like stretching or exercising more frequently and appropriately. There are so many physical techniques to keep the human body healthy that aren’t complicated at all, we just need someone to teach them to others. In many cases, physiotherapy is basically a more accessible form of medicine! 

Sounds like you found your calling! Are you excited to start working with patients?

Actually, I had my first interaction with a patient just yesterday as part of my curriculum! We went to the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal, which is a rehab hospital mainly for patients with neurological issues. We went there to practice some of our evaluation skills and we got to meet some of the sweetest volunteer patients.

The patient that I saw yesterday was the victim of a stroke. Since it was my first time interacting with a patient as somebody providing care, the most important thing to me was making sure they really understood what I was doing, especially because they had a bit of a language barrier. We usually practice on each other using familiar medical terms, but for patients the experience can be intimidating because they may not understand the terminology or know what we're about to do. I realized I had to be much more mindful of how I explained things so that the patient could fully understand what was happening and give informed consent. From time to time, I would bridge the gap by summarizing what we were talking about, explaining what was going on and why we were doing certain tests.

I believe the patient appreciated it; by the end we were all chatting, laughing and making jokes together. It was definitely a bit of a learning curve because for the first half hour there was a clear separation between us [the students] and the patient. It quickly disappeared once we started bridging that gap, and that's when the relationship started to develop into something more human. 

How did it feel to be a caregiver to a patient for the first time? 

It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Having to touch a stranger (the patient) was definitely an adjustement at first. And then there's the constant "what if I do something wrong?" feeling. What if I have to do a manoeuvre and I pull on their arm too hard and hurt them? I was definitely nervous, it was my first time interacting with a patient from a caregiver's position after all. Despite all that it was still so exciting to be in that role for the first time. I was very happy with myself by the end of the session. It all went well, don’t worry, the patient is fine! I’m also fine. But yeah, it was super stressful at first but during the interaction it was exciting, and afterwards it was just gratifying. Definitely was a great experience. I also gained a lot of confidence afterwards!

What's something about your studies in physiotherapy that surprised you after you had that experience with a patient yesterday?

I had this misconception that my studies would be quite direct, that there is a right and wrong answer for everything. I’m starting to see that it’s all mostly a grey area. I figured maybe that's just physiotherapy as a discipline, but the more I learn about the medical side of things the more I actually see that all medicine, whether it be like western medicine or another kind of medicine or physiotherapy, it's a lot of the grey areas; it's vague, it's trial and error, it's science-based but also heavily based on clinical experiences.

Actually my first semester was quite frustrating because certain topics in various classes would clash or contradict each other; one would say x is good, the other would say x is fine, the other would say x is great but it can also be bad. It was so confusing at first. I kept wondering are we even really scientists at this point?! But yes, we are. Science is constantly evolving which explains why there isn’t always one single answer for each problem. I'm also learning that procedure choices are circumstantial; there is no one-size-fits-all solution in medicine.

That’s a really good point. Did you ever end up making peace with the uncertainty of it all?

I think it’s always going to be a work in progress. I believe it’s heavily tied to the level of experience someone has. When you have more experience, some things become easier to detect or understand. Other than that, I don’t know how one could deal with this constant uncertainty. I think you just have to be logical overall and considerate of each patient individually and careful not to generalize across all patients. And you have to clinically reason and just question yourself, like, why am I doing this specific treatment or this specific evaluation? What are the consequences if I do it, if I don't, and navigate through that. I guess even that's a grey answer!

I’m curious about your shadowing experience with the ICUBP when you were a volunteer in the ICU.

Actually my shadowing experience through the ICUBP is what made me love physiotherapy even more. I was a volunteer at the Jewish General Hospital in the medical surgical ICU. On my very first shift, I went around the unit and I started looking around to see if I could find anyone to shadow that would interest me. I finally saw someone with a hoodie that said ‘physiotherapy’ and immediately I was like ‘that's my girl’. I never would have known if she wasn’t wearing that hoodie. 

Thank god for the hoodie! 

Yeah, thank god for the hoodie!

I approached her and we had a very brief conversation where I mentioned I was a PT student and interested in physiotherapy. Without asking any further questions, she immediately invited me to shadow her. I was surprised, since I had a whole speech prepared to sell myself and tell her more about myself. I guess the only criterion was curiosity! We ended up getting along really well, and almost every week after that I would shadow her. She's also a physiotherapy instructor at McGill, so whenever she was teaching her students, she would bring me along with them. I got to see so many different kinds of patients and also the different kinds of physiotherapy that can be done in the ICU and how it helps. The shadowing definitely piqued my curiosity, so I started looking into evidence for physiotherapy in ICU patients. I learned that it can help shorten hospital stays in many cases. It was a really special feeling the see the relevance and impact of the career I had chosen.

What's one piece of advice you'd offer to new students in your program that are starting their studies?

Being open-minded is a very important asset throughout medical studies. Be open-minded about everything, especially about the people around you. You’re gonna be seeing lots of different people in your physio studies since it’s a program where students come from various stages in their life. Some come directly from CEGEP, others from undergrad or master's or from a different professional background. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get to know your peers; each will introduce you to a brand new perspective and together you can grow to be the best versions of yourselves. Also, it's okay if you don't remember all the details by heart, as long as you get the logic behind what you’re studying, that's what's important in PT. Practice your critical thinking skills, and most importantly have fun!