Professionalisation of operating department practice: an evolutionary perspective

ABSTRACT

The health care professionals staffing the operating theatres of UK hospitals are pursuing a professionalisation agenda based around increasing the academic level of the credential required for entry to their professional register. This paper explores the impact of this on registered Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs) and Theatre Nurses by proposing a theory of professionalisation as an inter- and intra-professional evolutionary process, which resonates with the Red Queen's Hypothesis. The findings show how registered professionals carry out a benchmarking exercise to determine the most suitable route of professional development. The ODPs and nurses who decide to participate in credentialised continuing professional development do so to remain competitive with the new breed of graduates entering the profession. However, their continued study only serves to bring them to the level of the new breed professionals; they are running fast to stand still. We explore and comment on the ripple of behaviours the rise in academic credential produces.

KEYWORDS:

• Benchmarking
• professionalisation
• Red Queen’s Hypothesis
• Operating Department Practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The HCPC register of approved training programmes (http://www.hcpc-uk.org/education/programmes/register/index.asp?intStartRow=21&EducationProviderID=all&StudyLevel=all&ProfessionID=7&PostRegistrationID=&ModeOfStudyID=all&IntakeStatus=Open&RegionID=#educationSearchResults) shows that 24 higher education institutions deliver pre-registration ODP training. Of these, nine provide a BSc course, nine a diploma course, and six provide both BSc and diploma courses.

2. Note: the NHS process for ethical approval via the Health Research Agency was amended from 31 March 2016 and this decision tool no longer forms part of the ethical review process. See http://www.hra.nhs.uk/research for further details.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rob Corbett

Rob Corbett is a Senior Lecturer in Operating Department Practice at Staffordshire University and has been associated with ODP/operating theatre education for 28 years. During this time, his research interests in workforce developments for the operating department have grown. Recent research activities have focused on the impact of the introduction of higher academic level credentials on the operating theatre workforce and the workforce transformation agenda. He was awarded his PhD in Education in 2017.

Steve Suckling

Steve Suckling has been researching the topic of how people respond to change in organisational settings for over 15 years. His work has stretched across both the public and private sectors, working between the UK, EU, and USA examining topics such workforce development, digital and Public Health. Steve’s current work is focused on how search engine technology can be used to enhance lateral thinking in organisational problem solving.