I am an anaesthetic ODP

[probablynotthesame]

Hi everyone I work in anaesthetics as an operating department practitioner (ODP) I specialise in paediatric and head and neck surgery although I do do other specialties. I have worked in district, private, cancer specialists and currently in a NHS university hospital. AMA!

Good question @GoingRogue I don't perform spinals/epidural blocks it is the anaesthetist that does.

Best practice for infection prevention and control would suggest wearing one however it will be up to the hospital to have a policy in place to follow...although not all DRs do! In my experience 9 times out of 10 an anaesthetist wears a mask though and I think they should.

Ah that's good to know! My anaesthetist didnt wear one when giving me a spinal for an elcs. I was in an induced coma fighting severe bacterial meningitis the next day. It was a rare strain, and the only other times women had had it during a c-section it could be traced back to the anaesthetist's oral flora. So I agree they should wear masks!

SchrodingersMeowth

As far as I know, I do not have any connective tissue disorder but I am quite ill with lots of symptoms, fibro is the diagnosis at the moment but I have recently developed arthritis and have joint swelling, I am late 40s.

What skills/qualities make a good anaesthetist, in your opinion? What makes you think "Oh yay, I'm with X today" instead of "Oh crap, how do I survive a day with Y?"

I'm an anaesthetics reg and you guys are awesome and sorely underappreciated by the general public (and a lot of other hospital staff tbh!)

@SockQueen I guess it's just as simple as a nice anaesthetist!

I have no problems working with someone that wants everything all the time like the masimo or to scan everyone's back before a regional! or is fussy about adult half size tubes that we have to magic up! You can be a little bit crap too and rely on us more than others but if you have respect for us we do for you and it makes for a happy day!

Coffee helps a lot too so be generous when you become a consultant 😛

Thank you for the awesome comment too, we aren't well known at all so it's nice to be appreciated thank you