BSc (Hons) Operating Department Practice

This module will be focused on the development of academic and professional skills for transition to higher education. A wide range of different activities will be used to assess and develop skills including reading, writing, information technology, library searching and problem-solving. You will be encouraged to reflect on your personal development as university students and as adult learners. Effective time management will be encouraged, as will be the development of personal resilience for learning within higher education. 

This module explores the concept and practice of inter-professional working. You will be encouraged to reflect on developing a professional identity as an allied healthcare professional (AHP) before exploring the roles and responsibilities of the range of other health and social care professionals and organisations that support care in community and hospital settings.

This module will familiarise you with the fundamental principles of caring for perioperative patients undergoing surgery with sedation, general, regional or local anaesthesia. You will be introduced to basic skills and knowledge associated with participation in surgical interventions such as setting up the sterile field, the scrub procedure, instrumentation and being responsible for the surgical count. In addition, the module will provide a foundation in pharmacology including anaesthetic induction, maintenance, neuromuscular blocking agents and their reversal, analgesics, and anti-emetics. 

This module aims to provide you with an orientation to foundational human sciences, normal anatomy and physiology, and the major theories and frameworks linked with a biopsychosocial conceptualisation of health. The module provides a foundation on which profession-specific content will develop, focusing increasingly on abnormal human sciences in common and then more complex and rare conditions.

You will undertake clinical placements in anaesthetic, surgery and post operative care to enable you to meet the required proficiencies and ODP competencies. You will be supported in clinical placement by Practice Educators in the perioperative and environment. 

This module advances your knowledge and understanding of the scientific method. Specifically, the module will provide you with the ability to apply systematic approaches to identifying, critiquing and applying the evidence-base for practice within their profession. In this way, you will develop a foundational knowledge of research methods (required for critical appraisal) and competence with critical appraisal.

You will further develop your anaesthetic knowledge and skills for practice by building on previous theory delivery. You will be introduced to the Anaesthetic Practitioners Non-technical skills (ANTS-AP) which includes teamwork, communication and situation awareness and their application to the clinical setting. The module will also explore the impact of evidence based practice within the workplace, for example in the development of policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines. Relevant theory to support ECG interpretation and invasive anaesthesia assistance will be discussed along with exploration of the physiological and pathophysiological responses to injury and illness. Measurement of flow and pressure, modes of ventilation and airway monitoring including inhalational agent identification will also be examined within the module. 

The aim of this module is to develop further your skills, competencies and knowledge in assisting the surgeon as a novice Surgical First Assistant (SFA). The module will build upon the basic concepts of surgical practice introduced in year 1 and further develop your ability to become a safe, efficient and capable scrub practitioner. Social and cognitive skills identified as ‘non-technical’ skills will be introduced to aid the development of professional skills. Legal, professional and ethical issues will be highlighted focussing on the accountability and responsibility implications of the Surgical First Assistant role.

This module examines the post anaesthetic care of elective surgical patients and will equip you with the theory and practice to provide safe, effective care of adult patients recovering from elective surgery following local, regional or general anaesthesia. 

Building upon Clinical Practice 1, this module will promote a focus on the role of the ODP when dealing with at least two of the following clinical practice specialities: obstetrics, shared airway or paediatrics within the anaesthetic phase of care. Within the surgical phase of care, the focus will be on gaining proficiency in the scrub practitioner and Surgical First Assistant (SFA) roles. In addition, you will further develop your knowledge and understanding in relation to the post anaesthetic surgical care for both the elective and the non-scheduled adult patients. 

This module is linked to the leadership pillar of professional practice, providing you with the opportunity to link the improvement of health and care services to your personal and professional leadership development. As an interprofessional module, you will be able to work with students from other professional groups to bring profession-specific and transferable skills and insights to resolve real-world challenges. These challenges will be collated from service partners, which together with the design of the assessment strategy, will enable you to build further connections with employers.

This module advances your Year 2 anaesthesia and post anaesthesia care knowledge and extends its application into other critical care environments such as ITU, CCU and / or A&E.

This module will address a varied range of complex scenarios which may be present in clinical practice and approaches to dealing with these in terms of situation management and ethical decision making. Non-technical skills (ANTS-AP and SPLINTS) will be reinforced to identify the impact of human performance and error management. It will also focus on your personal and professional development, including leadership skills, management of groups, clinical governance / clinical effectiveness and audit; clinical decision making and outcomes within a multi-disciplinary and Interprofessional team.