Operating Department Practice

Study options

Award

BSc (Hons)

Key facts

UCAS code:
B902
Location:
Centre of Excellence Stafford
Study option:
Full-time
Duration:
3 Years
Start date:
13 September 2021
School:
School of Health and Social Care

95% overall student satisfaction

National Student Satisfaction 2019

Hands-on experience

You'll spend approximately 50% of your time in clinical practice

Expert facilities

Practice a range of patient care scenarios on our SimMan 3G

This degree will give you the skills needed to deliver essential services in the operating theatre and give high standards of perioperative care to patients.

Operating Department Practitioners play an essential role in the delivery of services in the operating theatre. As an ODP, you will play an important part of the theatre team and work alongside surgeons and anaesthetists. 

On successful completion of study, we will issue the following award: BSc (Hons) Operating Department Practice

Work placements

To give you hands-on experience of working with patients, combined with plenty of opportunities to apply your theoretical knowledge in the operating theatre environment, you’ll spend approximately 50% of your time in clinical practice during the course of your studies. Your placements will take place at a variety of hospitals across Staffordshire and Shropshire. You will work in a range of surgical areas, including general and abdominal surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics, and ear, nose and throat.

Course content

You’ll develop your skills in clinical laboratories that are equipped with some of the most advanced teaching equipment available. In our state-of-the-art simulated Operating Theatre, for example, you’ll train in the delivery of basic care, right through to managing emergency situations.

This will enable you to reach a level of confidence and proficiency before carrying out procedures on real patients.

To give you hands-on experience of working with patients, combined with plenty of opportunities to apply your theoretical knowledge in the operating theatre environment, you’ll spend approximately 50% of your time in clinical practice during the course of your studies.

Academic year

The course operates on a modular basis. Each credit taken equates to a total study time of around 10 hours. Total study time includes scheduled teaching, independent study and assessment activity.

All students take a total of 120 credits per level and 360 credits for the degree as a whole. Your overall grade for the course and your degree classification are based on the marks obtained for modules taken at levels 5 and 6.

Professional body accreditation

Approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for the purpose of providing eligibility to apply for registration with the HCPC as an operating department practitioner.

HCPC logo
The role of an ODP

The role of an ODP

Video

An ODP plays a vital support role in the operating theatre and supports the patient at every stage of their procedure. Do you have what it takes to make a difference in ODP?

Modules

The tables provide an indicative list of the modules that make up the course for the current academic year. Each module is worth a specified number of credits. Our teaching is informed by research, and modules change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline. We aim to ensure that all modules run as scheduled. If for any reason a module cannot be run we will advise you as soon as possible and will provide guidance on selecting an appropriate alternative module.

Year 3 compulsory modules
Emergency Care In The Operating Department And Associated Areas 30 credits
Leadership, Management And Change In Health And Social Care 30 credits
Research And Development In The Operating Department 30 credits
Specialised Perioperative Practice 30 credits

Entry requirements

  • 5 GSCEs at grades A-C (4), to include mathematics and English
  • 112 UCAS points
  • Evidence of recent study
  • Occupational health clearance
  • Enhanced DBS clearance
     

All applicants are required to complete a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Occupational Health check.

We understand that you might have experienced a challenging run up to higher education and may have not met the entry requirements as listed. If this is the case don’t worry, contact us and our team of expert advisors can guide you through the next stages of application, or help you find the perfect course for your needs.

Why I love being an ODP student

Why I love being an ODP student

Video

ODP students Elton and Jessica talk about the rewards of being at the heart of the patient journey during a very difficult time.

For equivalent entry requirements in your home country, please see the information on our country pages.

Choose your country

Check our entry and English language requirements for your country.

GO

Facilities

Cutting-edge Equipment

You'll practise a range of patient care scenarios from basic vital signs monitoring to responding to emergency situations such as cardiac arrest.

Careers

Graduate Destinations

Our ODP graduates provide a broad range of hospital services in the operating department and associated areas, such as intensive care and emergency departments. Some choose to continue their studies through degree and higher degree pathways. Others work abroad in countries such as New Zealand and Australia.

Employment Opportunities

Your qualification could ultimately lead to roles in management, teaching or specialisation – in areas such as resuscitation, intensive care or accident and emergency environments. 

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and laboratory practicals. Seminars enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures in smaller groups of around 16-18 students. In addition, you will have timetabled meetings with your personal tutor at least twice a year. You will be taught in first-class learning spaces throughout your course.

Assessment

Your course will provide you with opportunities to test your understanding of your subject informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark. Each module normally includes practice or ‘formative’ assessments, for which you receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades you receive for them do not count towards your module mark. There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module. This includes a range of coursework assessments, such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations, final year, independent project and written examinations. The grades from formal assessments count towards your module mark.

Learning support

In addition to the excellent support you will receive from your course teaching team, our central Academic Skills team provides group and one-to-one help to support your learning in a number of areas. These include study skills (including reading, note-taking and presentation skills); written English (including punctuation and grammatical accuracy); academic writing (including how to reference); research skills; critical thinking and understanding arguments; and revision, assessment and examination skills (including time management).

Additional support

Our AccessAbility Services support students with additional needs such as sensory impairment, or learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

Feedback

You will normally receive feedback on coursework assessments within 20 working days following the date of submission. Examination feedback may take a variety of formats. However, as a minimum, generic feedback will be made available to all students who take written examinations.

Your overall workload will consist of class contact hours, independent learning, assessment activity and study visits where appropriate.Your actual contact hours will depend on the subject area, on the option modules you select and professional body requirements. However, you can normally expect that time spent in scheduled teaching and learning activity will be highest in Level 4, decreasing in Levels 5 and 6 as independent learning becomes more significant.

Year 1

45% of time in lectures, seminars or similar
41% of time in independent study
0% of time in placements

Year 2

15% of time in lectures, seminars or similar
43% of time in independent study
43% of time in placements

Year 3

12% of time in lectures, seminars or similar
46% of time in independent study
42% of time in placements

Independent learning

When not attending lectures, seminars, laboratory or other timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve utilising a range of digital resources including our virtual learning environment; reading journals, articles and books; working on individual and group projects; undertaking research in the library; preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations. Your independent learning will be supported by a range of excellent facilities. These include the library, open access computer facilities, informal learning zones, a range of laboratories and performance and studio spaces.

Year 1

25% practical exams
75% coursework
0% written exams

Year 2

25% practical exams
63% coursework
13% written exams

Year 3

38% practical exams
50% coursework
13% written exams

Staff

You will be taught by an expert teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics and professional practitioners with industry experience. Postgraduate research students who have undertaken teaching training may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader. 

Your tutors are experienced practitioners who will bring real-life experiences to your learning using the most up-to-date skills and technologies.

Angela Woolliscroft

Senior Lecturer

I qualified as a Registered Nurse through Staffordshire University in 2000. I worked for 15 years as a Theatre Scrub Practitioner and Clinical Standards Facilitator in the Operating Theatres at an acute NHS Trust in the West Midlands, taking an …

Angela's profile

Fees

For the course starting on 13 September 2021 the tuition fees are:

Study option UK / Channel Islands International
Full-time £9,250 per year of study £18,000 per year of study

UK and Channel Island students: This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation. If the UK government passes appropriate legislation, the fee for subsequent years of study may increase in each academic year. But this increase will not exceed the rate of inflation as measured by RPIX**. Any change in fees will apply to both new and continuing students. The University will notify students of any change as early as possible. Further information about fee changes would be posted on the University’s website once this becomes available.

**RPIX is a measure of inflation equivalent to all the items in the Retail Price Index (RPI) excluding mortgage interest payments.

International students: Tuition fees will remain the same for each year of your course, as long as you complete it in the normal time-frame (i.e. no repeat years or breaks in study).

Included in the fees:
  • The School will fund uniforms, occupational health screening and DBS services.
Not included in the fees:

Some students may choose to take an elective placement outside of our standard Practice Learning Placement circuit. Where this is the case, the costs associated with travel, accommodation, insurance etc will be the responsibility of individual students.

INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS ONLY

International Students, like all others, should be aware of the additional costs they will incur of travelling to their Practice Learning Placements (which constitutes fifty per cent of the course over three years). This is in addition to the costs associated with studying away from home such as accommodation.

International Students are unlikely to be eligible for the additional financial support offered to some UK/EU students. The International tuition fee includes a contribution to the yearly Practice Learning Placement tariff which will allow students to access the full range of clinical learning experiences.
Accommodation and living costs

Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees. 

For more information on accommodation and living costs, please see: Accommodation

Sources of financial support

If you receive funding from Student Finance you may be eligible to apply for additional benefits. Details can be obtained by visiting: www.gov.uk

Scholarships and additional funding

As an undergraduate student at Staffordshire, you may be eligible for additional financial support through one of our scholarships and bursaries. You can visit our funding page to find out more and check your eligibility.

Our students

The skills lab is amazing. You get to develop skills which you can use in practice. Before we even got a placement, I learned how to scrub up. It just gives you that extra bit of confidence and a little head start.

Coral Edge

Graduate now working at Leighton Hospital

The course has a really good reputation and practice. A lot of people locally like people who are trained at Staffs.

Jules Brown

ODP student

In my maternity placement I got to be involved in scrub and delivering a baby through caesarean section which was an amazing experience

Catherine Williams

ODP student

Apply

Location Award Study option Start date
Centre of Excellence Stafford BSc (Hons) Full-time 13 September 2021 Apply now

Rules and regulations

If you are offered a place at Staffordshire University, your offer will be subject to our rules, regulations and enrolment conditions, which may vary from time to time.

Students of Staffordshire University enter into a contract with us and are bound by these rules and regulations, which are subject to change. For more information, please see: University Policies and Regulations.

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