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
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챕터

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)