Operating Department Practice

Operating Department Practice at Birmingham City University

[00:00:12] Lewis ODP, or operating department practitioner is an allied health professional covering the three phases of a patient's surgical journey. So we work in anaesthetics. We work with the surgeons performing the surgery, helping the surgeons all the way through till the end. And then we also wake people up post-surgery in recovery.

[00:00:37] Haleema ODPs are amazing because we are all within the operating team, but not a lot of people know who we are.

[00:00:44] Lewis We're like ninjas in the background of people's surgery. 

[00:00:48] Haleema The kind of like on a mission to just make sure everything runs smoothly helps keep the patient comfortable, the backbone within the team to link them between the surgery that's ongoing and the rest of the hospital.

[00:01:02] Lewis We are the career that nobody's ever heard of, but we're the best career that nobody's ever heard of. 

[00:01:11] Haleema I discovered them through an NHS careers event, and once I found out who they were, what they do, what their role is in an operating department, I was like, That's exactly what I want to do. 

[00:01:23] Lewis I didn't want to do the usual careers that everyone at the age of 18 wanted to do.

[00:01:29] Haleema I want to be part of a team that's going to change someone's life for the better, but not only within theatres, but beyond within the rest of the hospital as well.

[00:01:40] Lewis The surgery just wouldn't happen without us. So with or without ODP, you wouldn't get that life enhancing procedure.

[00:01:46] Haleema You're providing that care that it's so individualised on a 1 to 1 basis that no other area of the hospital would be able to achieve without us. 

[00:01:58] Lewis You need to be confident in your work. You need to be able to respond to the environment. You need to respond to your patients and you need to work with your multidisciplinary team effectively.

[00:02:12] Haleema I'd say go for it. Honestly, it's an amazing career, and even though I'm only in my first year, you get to meet so many different people, you gain so many different experiences.

[00:02:22] Lewis We are going all over the NHS now and seeing those expand is just brilliant to watch.