[Title screen]
[Music]
[Screen: Anne-Marie Fitzgerald-Jones, Operating Department Practitioner]
[Scene of inside kitchen, getting breakfast]
Anne-Marie: Hi, I’m Anne-Marie – a student ODP preparing for a day in placement. What’s an ODP? One of the best-kept secrets in health care. An Operating Department Practitioner, trained to work in the theatre environment in three disciplines – anaesthetics, surgery and immediate post-operative recovery.
[Scene of St Thomas’ hospital]
Anne-Marie: My role is one of support – either for the anaesthetist, as a scrub person during surgery or giving direct one-to-one patient care, post anaesthesia.
[Scene of inside hospital]
Anne-Marie: My course is split between university blocks and practical training at a hospital, my placement - with a heavy emphasis on placement time. I live at home and travel to my base hospital, which makes for an early start.
[Scene of patient in bed being attended by staff]
For placement, think workplace. You’re expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner. Basically this means being where you should be on time, ready to make the most of learning opportunities and to practise and demonstrate the skills you’ve already learnt. My concern is the safety and well-being of all my patients – be they adult or child, whatever their creed, religion, race or background – at a frightening and vulnerable point in their lives. My training enables me to deliver specialist, individualised care, to deliver the best possible outcomes.
[Title screen: Omotola Babatunde, Mental Health Nursing]
Tola: Hi, I’m Tola. I study mental health nursing at London South Bank University. I came into nursing because a family member of mine had a mental health problem. I was her carer, and the support I gave her during and after the illness, and seeing her regain her confidence, motivated me to come into mental health nursing to enable me to support other people. At the moment I’m on four weeks placement at the acute adult ward in the general hospital. I am really looking forward to the 12 week placement in the acute mental health hospital. This will enable me to understand how the professional works with the family members to support clients. It is quite challenging having three children, studying full-time as well as working part-time as a student ambassador. However, I plan my time, organise myself and ensure I work only during my free period. The children, I ensure they go to bed in good time, and when everyone has gone to bed, I take time to study at night.
[Scene of nurses interacting with mother and child in the hospital]
Anne-Marie: There are students from many health care professions at LSBU, such as nursing, radiography, physiotherapy, midwifery and many others, working in placements in hospitals all over the capital, like Tommy’s, Great Ormond Street, Kings, and Whipps Cross.
[Scene of student walking home from placement]
Anne-Marie: It is a struggle juggling my free time when I’m in placement. I still have academic assignments to do, plus I have a life! I try to allocate time to research and write essays when it won’t interfere with family time – late nights and days off, but it’s not all bad. I’ve developed great organising skills that will serve me well for the rest of my life.
[Screen: Serving over 30 NHS Trusts, we are the UK’s second largest provider of nurse education. We train one in five of London’s nurses and health and social care professionals. We have an unbeaten record of student employment, with 98% of our students gaining full-time work within three months of completing their studies.
[End titles]
