OTIQ
The perioperative course that turns late finishes into early ones.
About the course
Every minute lost in an operating theatre is a minute a patient waited for nothing. Operating Theatre IQ is a specialist-level CPD course built for clinicians and perioperative professionals who want to understand — and improve — how operating theatres actually work. Developed by a specialist anaesthetist with direct experience of the inefficiencies that cost lists cases, clinicians income, and patients time, this course translates the best available evidence on theatre efficiency into practical, immediately applicable knowledge. It covers the full perioperative system: from booking and list design through to PACU flow, cultural safety, human factors, and the financial case for doing all of it better.
Who is this course for?
Operating Theatre IQ is designed for anyone with a professional stake in how operating theatres perform.
- Anaesthetists — consultants in CIC or supervisory roles, private practitioners, and anaesthetic trainees.
- Surgeons — public and private specialists, surgical trainees, and surgical assistants.
- Proceduralists — gastroenterologists, interventional cardiologists, respiratory physicians performing bronchoscopy, and interventional radiologists.
- Perioperative nurses — anaesthetic nurses, scrub and scout nurses, admissions and PACU nurses.
- Floor coordinators and theatre managers
- Surgical and bookings coordinators
- Theatre technicians and ward clerks
- Medical administrators and hospital executives
Course modules
Module 1: Introduction to theatre systems and general principles
Module 2: Stakeholders and incentive alignment — who benefits from theatre efficiency and why
Module 3: Patient-centred outcomes — how theatre efficiency affects clinical care
Module 4: How to schedule and book a theatre list — evidence-based approaches to list construction and sequencing
Module 5: The finances of theatre efficiency — what one extra case per day actually means
Module 6: Measuring what matters — utilisation, throughput, dashboards, and data
Module 7: Day of surgery — planning, cancellations, and patient preparation
Module 8: Flowchart of theatre turnover — roles, tasks, and parallel processing from patient out to patient in
Module 9: Optimising add-on emergency cases — strategies and decision frameworks
Module 10: Barriers to turnover — roles, tasks, and solutions
Module 11: Blocked PACU — causes, consequences, and solutions
Module 12: The anaesthetist in charge (CIC) — role, responsibilities, and decision-making
Module 13: The theatre floor coordinator — role, responsibilities, and operational toolkit
Module 14: Human factors in theatre efficiency — communication, hierarchy, and psychological safety
Module 15: Technology for theatre efficiency
Module 16: Cultural safety and perioperative efficiency — patients, staff, and team performance
Quick-reference summary cards: Six illustrated reference cards covering the core frameworks from the course, designed for use in clinical practice
Final assessment: Scenario-based multiple-choice questions drawing on content across all modules, suitable for CPD documentation
FAQs
Who is this course designed for?
This course is designed for specialist anaesthetists, surgeons, proceduralists, anaesthetic and surgical trainees, floor coordinators, perioperative nurses, theatre technicians, bookings coordinators, and hospital administrators — anyone with a professional stake in how operating theatres perform.
How many CPD hours can I claim?
The course supports a total suggested claim of 8 hours — 6.5 hours in the Knowledge and Skills category and 1.5 hours in the Reviewing Performance category. The cultural safety module is designed to align with the Cultural Safety and Addressing Health Inequities domain requirement. The human factors content is designed to align with the Professionalism domain requirement.
Is this course formally accredited?
Formal accreditation has not been received by any college. It has been developed by a Fellow of ANZCA and is designed to support CPD claims across multiple categories. Candidates should record this activity in their CPD portfolio based on their own assessment of the content and their college's current requirements.
How long will I have access?
You have 12 months of access from the date of enrolment. All content updates within that period are included.
Do I need to complete the modules in order?
We recommend working through the modules in sequence as the content builds progressively. However you are welcome to navigate directly to modules most relevant to your current practice.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. A CPD certificate is issued automatically once you complete all 16 modules, the cultural safety reflective practice question, and pass the final assessment at 70% or above. The certificate is available immediately from your dashboard and is also emailed to you.
Does the cultural safety module satisfy the mandatory CPD domain requirement?
The cultural safety module is designed to align with the at least one CPD activity in the Cultural Safety and Addressing Health Inequities domain. It does not satisfy the separate cultural safety education requirement for new specialist registration applications.
Is the course relevant to public hospital practice as well as private?
Yes. The course addresses both public and private settings explicitly — including activity-based funding, public hospital overtime costs, and the differences in financial incentives between the two systems.
Is a tax invoice provided?
Yes. A tax invoice is generated automatically for every purchase. If you require an invoice for CME budget reimbursement or expense purposes contact [email protected] and we will send one directly.
Can I complete the course on my phone or tablet?
Yes. The course is accessible via the Thinkific mobile app on iOS and Android, or via any mobile browser at otiq.com.au. Thinkific saves your progress automatically, so you can work through a module between cases, pick up where you left off during a break, and complete the course in whatever increments suit your schedule. For the best experience with infographics and the final assessment, a tablet or desktop is ideal — but the course is designed to fit around a clinical day, not the other way around.
How quickly will I receive support if I have a question?
We aim to respond to course and administrative enquiries within 3–5 business days. OTIQ is a self-paced online course rather than a real-time support service, so response times may occasionally extend during leave or conference periods. For technical issues with the Thinkific platform, [email protected] is the best point of contact.
Can I contact OTIQ about a specific efficiency problem at my hospital?
The course is designed to give you the frameworks and evidence to work through those problems yourself — that is genuinely its purpose. We are not able to provide individual site-specific consulting or operational advice as part of course enrolment, but we are always happy to hear from participants about how they are applying the content. If you have a question about the course material itself, get in touch at [email protected].
Meet your instructor
Operating Theatre IQ was developed by Dr Sandeep Rakhra, a specialist anaesthetist and Fellow of ANZCA with 10 years of experience across public and private perioperative practice in Australia. Alongside his clinical training, he holds a postgraduate qualification in clinical education.
The course was created to close a practical gap: the evidence on theatre efficiency is extensive, but much of it is difficult to translate into day-to-day perioperative work. Operating Theatre IQ turns that evidence into practical frameworks, scenarios, and decision tools that perioperative teams can apply immediately.
The course draws on peer-reviewed literature, Australian clinical guidance, publicly available health-system data, and real perioperative practice. Financial figures are derived from publicly available Australian data and are presented as indicative examples. The scenarios reflect common problems encountered in Australian operating theatres.