Operating Department Practice/Registered Operating Department Practitioner

Sarah Beattie

I came to Portsmouth for a number of reasons.  As a mature student with a family, moving away from the area was not an option.  The University of Portsmouth has excellent facilities and a good reputation for teaching in healthcare subjects. After graduation, I hope to work at a local hospital.  My career aspirations, way into the future, are to become an advanced anaesthetic practitioner or advanced surgical practitioner.

I like the combination of academic and practical learning.  I enjoy anatomy, physiology, and being able to apply it in a practical way. I like the patient contact and doing my best to make their time in theatre as much as I can. It is a very practical course, so the majority of time is spent on placement and you have to be quite disciplined in order to keep up with the academic side of the course.

We have had the opportunity to take part in some teaching research involving simulation training. There is also  the opportunity to take part in training with the emergency services, with us posing as people who are ‘injured/in need of help’, which gives a insight into how all the services work together in various situations.

The University’s facilities for healthcare students are excellent, in particular the Expert Centre. The Centre’s staff have helped us by offering advice about presentations and teaching us how to improve our practical skills. The University Library has good resources and the staff have always been incredibly helpful in showing us how to use and access the full range of resources.

Last year I used the Academic Skills unit (ASK), as I was struggling with writing assignments. ASK helped me from the first stages of planning my assignment to putting the information in the required written format.  This year we are using ‘Learn Direct’, which advise us on our presentations and provide a room and computer so we can work on our group presentations.  Student Finance are definitely worth a visit. They gave me advice on any extra financial help I may be entitled to and this helped with the purchase of books for the course.

I really love some of Portsmouth’s fantastic buildings with so much history behind.   The thought of having my picture taken on the steps of the Guildhall at graduation is an image I have in my head when I feel I am struggling with the course.  

Jasmin Crockett - DipHE Operating Department Practice

My course is great and includes the perfect ratio of study blocks at the University and hospital placements.

The staff are really fantastic and provide plenty of support. The facilities are second to none, for example, we utilise the
simulation suite in the ExPERT Centre (the centre for excellence in teaching and learning for developing health related
professionals) for practical training.

We also have access to resources such as WebCT, which is really useful, not just for lecture notes, but for online tests etc. and because of this we have remote access 24 hours a day.