Hi Everyone, I’m Sam, a newly qualified Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) and I completed my training at BU studying DipHE Operating Department Practice . My placement hospital was Poole and I graduated in the summertime this year.

The ODP course covers three areas, surgical, anaesthetic, and post anaesthetic care (recovery). The best thing about our training was that it was split into sections of theory and skills lab practice at uni to understand the anatomy and physiology and practice scrubbing and mounting sharps, then being able to take that into placement, working with our mentors to put all our skills together and following the same shift patterns as we would be in the real working world!

Working the long hours in practice did make writing assignments and revising for exams a little more challenging but being disciplined and still allowing some ‘me’ time enabled me to focus and get everything done I needed to, with a little time to spare!

I’ve been qualified and working for nearly 5 months now which if i’m honest I still can’t really believe. It only feels like yesterday that I submitted by application through UCAS and was waiting for my university choices to get back to me. I went to two interviews during my second year and was offered both (testament to the great teaching and support I  received at BU), so it was great to have a choice. I decided to stay at my training hospital to help with my confidence, and I felt the acute/trauma experience would be beneficial. The support has been great from both the uni and hospital. We built up such a good rapport with our lecturers that I have no doubt they will always be there to help us and offer advice at any time in our careers.

For anyone interested in pursuing a career in ODP, the journey throughout the two years is life changing and the goal at the end so worthwhile! I can’t really imagine doing anything else now and I am so pleased that I am now able to wake up and do the job I always wanted to do!

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DipHE Operating Department Practice