Course overview

Our Operating Department Practice (Registered Operating Department Practitioner) course is aimed at college leavers seeking a career in healthcare, as well as applicants who are either wanting a career change or to develop their role from support level to practitioner.

You will embark on the first stage of a career within operating theatres. This course is therefore much more than studying for an academic award; you will be prepared for a role that entails caring for patients at a vulnerable part of their time in hospital and in some critical areas of practice.

Approximately two-thirds of your time will be spent in supervised practice – hands-on care, with dedicated mentors. The partnership between the course team and clinical areas is very strong with regular contact and monitoring of the process throughout.

A CODP and HCPC approved course

This programme is approved by the College of Operating Department Practitioners (CODP) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), enabling you to apply for registration as an operating department practitioner with the HCPC and become a member of the CODP.

Course content

The course consists of 11 mandatory units, which are as follows:

Year one

• Developing Professional Practice: you will engage in a highly interactive approach to exploring a range of topics, such as communication, informed consent, ethics, conduct and accountability, which will contribute to your professional development as an ODP.
• Health, Safety and Infection Control: all fundamental aspects of health and safety at work in application to safe practice in the operating theatre are covered in taught and seminal sessions. This includes theatre design, theatre technology, risk assessment, COSHH and infection control.
• Anatomy and Physiology: in this unit you will take a systems approach to studying the body and learn how this knowledge is required in practice.
• Introduction to Perioperative Care: an introduction to working in the operating theatre and a focus on surgery and recovery phases of perioperative care. In addition you will gain manual handling and basic life support skills.
• Fundamentals of Perioperative Care: you will explore the holistic care of patients throughout the anaesthetic phase of perioperative care and the importance of working as an accountable practitioner.
• Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice: this unit focuses on introducing you to the research process, which includes design, methodology and evaluating research articles.

Year two

• Perioperative Use of Drugs: you will study in more depth pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in relation to ‘common’ perioperative drugs. You will also learn about drug calculations and the range of emergency drugs used in practice.
• Improving Health Services: this unit focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practice as part of a clinical governance framework within care environments.
• Perioperative Care of Specialist Patient Groups: you will study altered A+P and psychological aspects in relation to children, older adults, obstetric patients and diabetes.
• Care of the Critically Ill Patient: complex and critically ill patients will be the focus of this unit and it will include difficult airway issues, transfer to ITU/HDU, invasive monitoring, trauma, haemodynamic compromise, malignant hyperthermia, renal disease and multi organ failure.
• Professional Practice: this unit will allow you to demonstrate, via the construction of your own professional portfolio, evidence from the whole course that demonstrates the outcomes required by the Health Professions Council.

Teaching and assessment

Lectures provide a basic grounding in particular topics orissues and are accompanied by seminars, conducted in smaller groups, where you will discuss ideas and exchange views. Group and individual tutorials are also held so that you can develop independent learning and key skills, as well as investigate issues and protocols in more depth. These are also helpful if you need advice about particular aspects of your course and are instrumental in monitoring and reviewing your progress through Personal Development Planning activities.

Supervised workplace experience in an operating department is a major component of the course. You will be taught practical skills in a safe academic environment and then take these skills into the workplace where they will be developed and extended by interacting with patients.

We use a range of assessment methods on this course, including:

• end of unit examinations (both multiple choice and short answer)
• objective structured clinical examinations (tests involving practical skills as well as theory recall)
• clinical practice assessments that assess your ability to perform various procedures competently, confidently and safely
• essays, case study and portfolio work
• presentations
• online assessment

Career prospects

All students who have successfully completed the Dip HE Operating Department Practice have progressed into careers in the operating theatre. A number have also gone on to extended roles such as surgical care practitioner, team leader, theatre manager, sterile supply manager, practice educator and ambulatory care practitioner.

Facilities and features

You will be taught in modern and well equipped teaching facilities. You will also have access to University-wide resources, including our student support services, computer suites and our extended library, which houses an excellent collection of journals and books.

In addition, our Centre for Simulation in Healthcare, which aims to enhance the professional development of students in the healthrelated sciences, has state-of-the-art facilities for developing tomorrow’s health-related scientists. These include two simulation centres, one comprising four beds with human patient simulators, the other containing a high fidelity patient simulator. The rooms and equipment can be arranged to simulate particular clinical scenarios and the realistic simulators will enable you to experience clinical situations in a safe and supportive environment.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for DipHE Operating Department Practice/(RODP) for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).