Course details
Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs) are an instrumentally vital part of the perioperative team and are responsible for delivering safe, high-quality care to surgical patients during anaesthesia, surgery and post anaesthesia (recovery).
Taught by actively practising lecturers, in state-of-the-art facilities – including a simulated operating theatre – you’ll have plenty of opportunities to put your learning into practice – working in clinical settings supervised by registered healthcare professionals during multiple work placements that make up about 50% of your time on the course.
As well as the expert knowledge and skillset you’ll acquire, you’ll also gain numerous transferable skills, such as leadership, problem-solving, teamwork and communication – all essential for a career in an NHS or private sector operating department.
Contact hours and assessment
Details of the assessment methods and contact hours for each unit of the course can be found in the programme specification.
Download the programme specification (pdf 404KB)Download the foundation year programme specification (pdf 338kb)
Why study Operating Department Practice at BU?
- Preparing you for placement and beyond, our purpose-built facilities include an operating theatre simulation suite with highly accurate and life-like manikins
- Get hands-on experience working in surgical theatres with multiple and varied practical work placements that make up around 50% of your time on the course
- Placements are diverse and career options are too: you could work in pre-assessment, intensive care, A&E, patient transfer teams and other more specialised areas of care.
- This course has high employment rates and is approved by the HCPC, so you will be able to apply for registration as a qualified ODP once you finish the programme. After completing the course, 100% of students were in employment or further study.
- 100% of the academic team are registered ODPs still working clinically who are also HEA fellows or senior fellows.