Stafford’s Centre of Excellence open day was held on Saturday 24th June . This was a great event with both academic staff and students available to offer support and guidance for prospective students to inform their career choice. Visitors commented that there was a great vibe, we offered a personal service, were friendly and provided the opportunity of hands on activities.
About 10 people attended the Operating Department Practice (ODP) talk where they were informed about the profession and given in-depth information about the course and their career and employment options. Their questions were answered to enable them to make a choice whether to consider ODP as their profession and to study at Staffordshire University.
The operating theatre skills lab was opened to allow perspective students the opportunity to see the state of the art theatre that provides a purpose designed operating theatre that is used throughout the course.
Skills-based activities are integrated into the ODP curriculum and the operating theatre skills lab provides students with access to the equipment that they will used during anaesthetic, surgical and recovery placements. The skills facility allows several clinical procedures to be simulated in the first instance therefore enabling students to reach a level of confidence and proficiency before carrying out procedures on real patients. Many clinical skills have already been utilised and this has received positive feedback from both students and placement providers.
Essential equipment within the skills lab is an anaesthetic machine, operating table and scrub sink. A high-fidelity SimMan 3G is used to simulate activities ranging from the delivery of basic care through to managing emergency situations. Enabling the students to experience practical skills within a safe learning environment allows them to apply theory to practice, increase their confidence and their ability to perform core clinical skills therefore improving patient safety and reducing learner anxiety.
The skills lab had many visitors who were given the opportunity to use the airway management trainer. The anaesthetic machine was set up and the sim man was prepared for a surgical procedure.
A giant operation game was on show where visitors could take the challenge of removing body parts which proved to be a great success. A few people said “how they enjoyed the day and liked how it was interactive and not just people standing talking to them in one room”.
A small version of the operation games was given as a prize for the person completing the activity in the shortest time.
Karen Latcham, Senior Lecturer, K.W.Latcham@staffs.ac.uk