| Summary: | The pre-registration preparation of health care professionals for work in the operating department is in a transformative period. Now firmly entrenched in higher education, the professions are pursuing a policy of graduate entry based on a discourse underpinned by human capital theory. The impact of the introduction of graduate entry to nursing and Operating Department Practice (ODP) is explored in the context of the role of these professional groups in the operating department. A purposive sample of ODPs and theatre nurses participated in a survey, which was followed up with semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of ODPs and theatre nurses, from each of the salary Bands 5 – 8. The findings from the study provide an original contribution to the field of education in three areas. First is a reconceptualisation of human capital theory which acknowledges both organisational and individual factors as determinants of participation in further education and training. Human capital theory is repositioned as a multidimensional model which maintains and builds on Becker’s (1993) original conceptualisation. Second is an insight into professionalisation at an individual practitioner level, which is linked to the red queen hypothesis to explain individual actions and reactions to the introduction of graduate entry. Third, a recommendation for review of the pre-registration training for ODPs and nurses is made, based on how the practitioners in this study developed their body of professional knowledge and contextualised clinical experience.
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