29. "What IS an ODP?" Anitha Rego and Sue Robb tell us - celebrating #ODPDay!

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

Today is ODP Day - #ODPDay! So I was approached by Carrie Biddle, regional Head of Allied Health Professionals for the South-west region, to help raise awareness of this important profession and hopefully encourage some new people to think ‘this is for me!’ 🍋💡🍋
But what is an ODP? 🤷🏼‍♀️
An Operating Department Practitioner.
Works in operating theatres …
Still none the wiser?
Join us as Anitha Rego, a theatre nurse from Torbay, and Sue Robb, an ODP from Gloucestershire, discuss their respective roles and talk about their career paths and opportunities. Sue started out as a hospital porter!
🍋💡🍋 Lemon lightbulbs:

• An ODP is a crucial member of the team in theatres
• Language can be unhelpful. ODP. “We do get confused with the outpatients department”!
• There was more flexibility during Covid and teamwork was strong.
• Multi professional teams – with the patient in the centre!
• The career path can be a bit unclear for students – more opportunities than you might think!
• The human side – smiling and being human, despite the masks and gowns
• It’s harder to get feedback – because the patients are often asleep!
• See the whole person, not just the condition – people might be confused after the anaesthetic, not just because they have dementia!
• The human touch. Sometimes holding a hand says it all
• Kindness matters
• Creativity rocks - Kevin Duff – an ODP used creativity – a poem made into a video – to get people learning about his role
• One size does not fit all. Don’t ask an ODP why they don’t want to become a nurse?
• Nurse Terri Porrett was asked why she didn’t want to become a doctor!
• Recovering from the pandemic. Important project around waiting times by LSBUL Health systems innovation lab
• Doing what was necessary for the situation. Mask fitting!
• Smiling with your eyes! Despite the face masks
• Innovation in the pandemic. A shout out for Rachel Grimaldi, founder of CardMedic
• The theatre cap challenge! Humanising health care.
• Theatre teams are friendly and often have fun.
• Become an ODP

And ( in one hours researching for this episode, I came across this amazing video poem produced by Kevin Duff, and ODP himself, for ODP awareness day 2021. I love it.
Kevin Duff – if you get to read this – perhaps I could embed the poem, properly attributed of course, into the actual podcast. Anyway, here is the YouTube link as the video is fantastic too! https://youtu.be/lxYZ7bkodhU
We LOVE it when you leave a review!
If you enjoy my podcast and find these conversations useful
please share your thoughts by leaving a review (Apple is easiest to leave a review) and comment on your favourite episodes.
I tweet as @WhoseShoes and @WildCardWS and am on Instagram as @WildCardWS.
Please recommend 'Wild Card - Whose Shoes' to others who enjoy hearing passionate people talk about their experiences of improving health care.

Chapters

1. 29. "What IS an ODP?" Anitha Rego and Sue Robb tell us - celebrating #ODPDay! (00:00:00)

2. What is an ODP? (00:00:46)

3. Anitha started her career in India. She is now a theatre nurse. (00:02:44)

4. Sue is an ODP – but she started her career as a hospital porter (00:04:13)

5. So what is the difference between a theatre nurse and an Operating Department Practitioner (00:05:04)

6. Language can be unhelpful. ODP. We do get confused with the outpatients department. (00:05:27)

7. More flexibility during Covid (00:07:06)

8. Teamwork! Multi professional teams – with the patient in the centre! (00:09:50)

9. The career path can be a little bit unclear for students – let’s tell them more about being an ODP (00:11:00)

10. The human side – smiling and being human, despite the masks and gowns (00:15:24)

11. It’s harder to get feedback – because the patients are often asleep! (00:17:00)

12. Looking after the individual. Not just seeing the condition – people might be confused after the anaesthetic, not just because they have dementia! (00:18:00)

13. Sometimes holding a hand is all you need (00:20:14)

14. Kindness matters (00:20:44)

15. Shout out to Kevin Duff – an ODP who used creativity – a poem made into a video – to get people thinking (00:21:40)

16. One size does not fit all. Don’t ask an ODP why they don’t want to become a nurse? (00:23:10)

17. People are never satisfied. Nurse Terri Porrett was asked why she didn’t want to become a doctor! (00:24:28)

18. Recovering from the pandemic. Important project around waiting times by LSBUL Health systems innovation lab (00:26:06)

19. Being with the patient throughout the journey (00:27:39)

20. The pandemic was hard, but we were all in the same boat and it brought fantastic teamwork (00:29:21)

21. Doing what was necessary for the situation. Mask fitting! (00:30:31)

22. Smiling with your eyes! Despite the face masks (00:31:56)

23. Innovation in the pandemic. A shout out for Rachel Grimaldi, founder of CardMedic (00:32:20)

24. The theatre cap challenge! Humanising health care. (00:34:07)

25. Come and join us in theatres! We are a very friendly team. (00:35:47)