Operating Department Practitioners - Anaesthetic Stage

Anaesthetic Stage

During this stage of a patient's care, ODPs prepare the drugs and equipment needed for the patient to undergo anaesthesia. This may involve preparing and checking the anaesthetic machines, intravenous drugs / fluids, and devices to maintain the patient's airway (e.g. laryngeal masks or endo-tracheal tubes). ODPs will also communicate with the patient when they arrive in the anaesthetic room, verifying the pre-op check-list for allergies and past medical history. These last "barrier" checks can sometimes discover important information that no-one else has picked up on, such as allergies and fasting status for example. They assist the anaesthetist with the planned anaesthetic. They stay with the patient throughout their surgical intervention and alongside the anaesthetist help to maintain the "triad of anaesthesia" which consists of:

• Analgesia (pain control — opioid and non-opioid analgesics etc.)
• Muscle Relaxation (to minimise patient movement during surgery and/or facilitate ventilation)
• Hypnosis(drug induced sleep)

In some hospitals ODPs are members of "in-hospital" cardiac arrest teams, they work closely with anaesthetists to maintain the patient's airway and sometimes can instigate tracheal tubing where no other suitably trained person is available. They also attend "trauma calls" normally in the hospital's resuscitation area where they can deal with anything from babies with respiratory difficulties to major road traffic accident victims with polytrauma.

In some NHS Trusts, ODPs are also an important resource used during emergency inter-hospital transfers, mainly to Neurosurgical hospitals, decompression chambers and intensive care units. ODPs prepare and facilitate transfers arranging drugs, equipment, emergency airway apparatus. The anaesthetist, ODP and two paramedics usually make up the transfer team.