Generally speaking, the technical skills that immigrants bring with them meet or exceed Canadian standards. For IEHPs, the differences in approaches to healthcare delivery in Canada are what often prove challenging to master. What on the surface may appear as a technical procedure similar to one mastered in a different setting may differ in terms of appropriate and expected interpersonal and cross-professional communication and documentation standards. OCECCA proposes to offer diagnostic performance based communication assessments to help with raising awareness and make a learning plan. The OCECCA Project sees dynamic, performance based assessments as the most relevant and expedient process to evaluate and develop communications skills in context.

The professional development programs that OCECCA would provide are off-the-shelf or customized, intensive assessment sessions (with feedback), specialized cross-cultural communication workshops for individuals or teams, or small group training. The OCECCA Inventory documents some ready-made tools and resources that OCECCA proposes to administer. Needs assessments and customized training developed by OCECCA would be informed by its Assessment and Knowledge centre data collection and analysis.