Below are the session dates scheduled for 2025, later dates will be added in due course. All meetings take place online, on Thursday evenings, 7-8pm. Further information about each session, along with the meeting link will be posted approximately 2 weeks prior to the date. If you would like to receive calendar invites and updates about the group, please complete this short form to join the group mailing list.
Brighton Karimakwenda will be presenting about his experience of the GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant) route for PhD study, and about his PhD project exploring ODP research capability and culture.
Julie Bury, AHP manager at NIHR will be presenting during this session. Details of her presentation are as follows:
Title: NIHR Developing Research Leaders (DRL) Programme for Allied Health Professionals
Overview: Are you an Allied Health Professional committed to leading and supporting others and promoting an inclusive research culture?
The Developing Research Leader (DRL) Programme offers Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) the opportunity to shape and embed a research culture within their organisation. This is a self-directed programme that gives you the time to explore ways to build research capacity and capability in your organisation and to develop a positive research culture in support of your team, service and organisational priorities.
We are looking for motivated AHPs from various health and social care backgrounds who aspire to develop as a research leader, are good at connecting with others, and who bring fresh ideas to drive a positive research culture.
Lee Rollason, lecturer in ODP at Birmingham City University will be presenting at our May session.
Title: What are the lived career experiences of senior operating department practitioners? A n interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Overview: As a professional group, ODPs will be aware of many shared professional experiences, however, these experiences are under-represented in research leading to an evidence base which is mostly anecdotal. In an effort to turn the anecdotal into robust evidence, this study explored the lived career experiences of 6 senior ODPs with a view to identifying any common themes between accounts. Seven themes were identified across the experiences of participants addressing a wide range of topics including issues such as professional development, relationships with other health care professionals, sexual safety, student experiences and professional visibility. Whilst this study represents just a small step towards putting ODPs themselves at the heart of ODP research, it is hoped that it will provide a solid foundation upon which other investigations can be based.
This session's presentation will be by Helen Lloyd, course lead for the new pre-reg MSc in Operating Department Practice at York St John University. Helen's PhD research focuses on exploring the dietary intake of older adult hip fracture patients and the feasibility of carbohydrate loading, and whether the principles of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery regarding preoperative nutrition can be applied to the trauma patient.
In this session we'd like to hear from you - opportunities for collaboration, what topics and/or speakers you'd like future sessions to have, do you want/can you offer informal mentorship for developing quality improvement/research work? This will help shape plans for future sessions and opportunities to network to widen ODP research engagement.