A leading Canadian academic visited CQUniversity recently, bringing a fresh perspective on service delivery in health care based on her international experience.

Associate Professor Carole Orchard provided a presentation at Rockhampton Campus as part of a joint initiative with Queensland Health. Audience members included academics and local healthcare representatives.

Associate Professor Carole Orchard, a Canadian specialist on health care service delivery, is welcomed to CQUniversity by Professor Graham Pegg and Associate Professor Monica Moran

Visit organiser Associate Professor Monica Moran said Dr Orchard is one of the authors of the Canadian Interprofessional Competency Framework.

"She has a long association with a number of national leaders in interprofessional health education in Australia," she said.

"Dr Orchard visited Rockhampton to collaborate with Kerrie-Anne Frakes (QHealth) and myself on a major evaluation project of student learning.

"In her seminar to CQUni staff and local healthcare service providers, she reported on the latest strategies for evaluating the impact of interprofessional education and collaborative practice in healthcare teams."

Dr Orchard is currently Associate Professor and Coordinator of Interprofessional Health Education & Research for the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario. She is the former Director of its School of Nursing and Past President of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN).   She was the 2005 recipient of the CASN Ethel Johns Award for her contributions to nursing education and was the 2009 recipient of the Interprofessional Education Mentorship Award from NaHSSA (National Health Science Students Association). 

In 2003 she was asked to develop a background paper on interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) for the Office of Nursing Policy, Health Canada. Since that time she received a number of IP project grants from federal and provincial government calls. She and her colleagues have also developed two measurement instruments: Interprofessional Socialization & Valuing Scale (ISVS) and the Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale (AITCS). Dr Orchard is also a member of the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative Steering Committee (CIHC) and co-chair of its IP Competency Working Group who developed the CIHC National IP Competency Framework. She is currently co-chairing an international group, including Australia, in developing measurement instruments for the competencies.