Applications are now open for a new course giving people the chance to become a key part of a hospital operating team.
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, along with other NHS partners in Devon and Cornwall, have teamed up with Birmingham City University to launch a two-year Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) course.
ODPs are a crucial part of the operating department team; working with surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses to ensure that surgery is as safe and effective as possible, providing a high standard of care to patients throughout each stage of their operation.
Students joining the Diploma of Higher Education programme, which is full-time and starts in January 2018, will be based at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Wonford, Exeter, but also carry out placements in hospitals across the South West. Key modules of study will include anaesthetic care, bioscience, surgical practice and post-anaesthetic care, alongside other modules which promote effective contemporary healthcare practice.
Dave Brown, Principal Operating Department Practitioner at Torbay Hospital, said “This is an important and exciting opportunity for us to recruit and develop a local workforce for operating theatres across the region. Working in partnership with our colleagues in Birmingham City University is enabling us to deliver the Operating Department Practitioner Course on a local basis. This will greatly benefit students and therefore our patients in the coming years. We look forward to our first students joining us in the New Year.”
Karen Fearon, Head of the Department of Operating Department Practice and Paramedic Science at Birmingham City University, said: “ODPs play a central role in the care of patients throughout each stage of their operation, yet nationally there is a shortage of registered practitioners. This new partnership will play a key role in ensuring workforce needs are met in the South West through the education of knowledgeable and compassionate healthcare professionals who meet the needs of their patients and employers”
For further information about the course, eligibility criteria and how to apply, visitwww.bcu.ac.uk/courses/operating-department-practice-diphe-hospital-campus.
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