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Dear Students,

Hello and welcome to Main Theatres.

We hope you find your placement interesting and beneficial to your learning needs.  You will be allocated a PA/PS to work alongside, and to help facilitate your learning and development in the department. They will be able to encourage, help and support you throughout your time spent here. You are to spend time in both areas of anaesthesia and surgery, and there maybe the possibility to spend some time in recovery (staffing allowing).

Please try and ensure effective communication with your PA/PS, so that your time is planned efficiently. Scheduling regular meetings to evaluate progress enables you to achieve your objectives and skills.

We hope you enjoy this placement and leave with a better understanding of the perioperative environment.
Working in theatres may seem different to the kind of nursing you may have experienced in your training so far, but there are always things to learn which can be transferred to many areas of nursing.

If you experience any problems or have any concerns, then please don’t hesitate to contact the Perioperative Practice Development Team or any member of the theatre team who will be willing to help.  Just remember we have all been where you are and experienced feeling anxious and nervous because of being in an unfamiliar environment but it will all be alright as we are here to support and encourage you.
PD Team

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Staff and Teams

Chris Webb – Clinical Theatre Manager

We have a multi-disciplinary team of Nurses, Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs), Healthcare Assistants, Porters, and Doctors.

Each theatre has a team, which normally consists of:

Þ   1 Anaesthetic Practitioner

Þ   2 Scrub Practitioners

Þ   1 Healthcare Assistant

The department comprises of 8 theatres all used for different surgical specialities. There are 5 different teams covering a variety of different surgical specialties and a recovery unit.

The different surgical specialties within this department are:

Þ   Maxillo-facial (Max Fax)

Þ   Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT)

Þ   Digestive Diseases (DD)

Þ   Gynaecology

Þ   Vascular

Þ   Renal access

Þ   Trauma

Þ   Emergency Surgery  (known as CEPOD)

The operating department works 24 hrs a day to cover emergency and trauma surgery, and to assist with out of department emergencies ie. Cardiac arrests, ventilation/ airway support and trauma calls.

Shifts

Main theatres - 8am-6pm (E)

8am-9.30pm (LD)

9pm-8am (N)

You will follow your mentors shift pattern during the week, but will not be allocated at weekends unless you request it. You are encouraged to experience the full range of shifts including weekends and nights as this is when you will most likely experience emergency work.

Contact Numbers

RSCH (01273 696955)

Þ   Ext 4176/3577 - Main Theatres

Þ   Ext 4474 - Cardiac Theatres

Þ   Ext 4880/7997 - Eye Theatres

Þ   Ext 2564 - RACH

Þ   Ext          – Neurosurgical theatres

Þ   01273 644019 - Martyn Haddock Placements Brighton University

Sickness

It is your own responsibility to report any sickness to the person in charge of the department on that day before 8am. Please ensure you take the name of the person whom you are reporting to and ask if they would kindly inform your mentor so that they are aware of your absence.

It is our duty to inform the university of any sickness, and we have been informed that it is not possible to ‘make up’ time lost to sickness during your placement. Any problems can be discussed directly with them.

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The numbers

Our awards

elearning for healthcare won the Smarter Working Live Award in the Digital Transformation category for its COVID-19 vaccination elearning programme. To read more about the team's win visit our news page.

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providing elearning to educate and train the health and social care workforce

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Raising concerns | Royal College of Nursing (rcn.org.uk)

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Raising a concern is not always easy but it is the right thing to do. It is about safeguarding and protecting, as well as learning from a situation and making improvements.

This guide is to help nurses, nursing associates, students and health care support workers based in the NHS and independent sector.

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Raising concerns | Royal College of Nursing

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The RCN believes all nursing staff should feel safe and supported when raising concerns about patient care.

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https://youtu.be/XJDLUPuH3NY

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700-307 Iss 8 Patient Warming System IFU