As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of the new vaccines, in January 2021 the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Nursing partnered with the LSU Healthcare Network to administer COVID-19 vaccinations as a closed point of dispensing (POD) for Health Sciences Center faculty, staff and students. By the end of April 2021, 19,207 people had been vaccinated there with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, including 90% of School of Nursing faculty and staff. This closed POD eventually developed into an open POD, administering vaccinations to the greater community. The site was transitioned over to the LSU Healthcare Network Clinic in the fall of 2021.
While the official POD is no longer operational, vaccinations continue at the Healthcare Network Clinic. The School of Nursing and the LSU Health Care Network hosted the annual “Flu Fair” again in October 2024. During this time, nursing students helped administer the latest COVID and influenza vaccinations to students, staff and faculty at LSUHSC. Vaccines were not provided to the larger community at that time.
Lessons learned from the POD are now integrated into nursing students’ education. The School of Nursing continues to monitor infectious disease news and maintain formal agreements with the state government to ensure the school is ready to respond should another public health emergency arise.
“POD planning occurs annually and as needed, and the School of Nursing uses lessons learned from the closed POD utilized for COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as this additional planning, to improve LSUHSC’s response from an all-hazards perspective,” says Clair Millet, DNP, APRN, PHCNS-BC, Director of Nursing Continuing Professional Development & Entrepreneurial Enterprise and Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing.
Tabletop exercises at the School of Nursing offer a cost-effective, low-risk environment to simulate potential incidents and test response plans. They foster open communication, collaboration and problem-solving, making them an excellent tool for both training and evaluation.
“Closed PODs are nonmedical or medical dispensing sites that provide medications to a targeted dispensing population, helping to reduce the likelihood of employees and their family members visiting an open public POD,” Dr. Millet says. “The School of Nursing renewed our memorandum of agreement with the Louisiana Department of Health Office of Public Health in August 2024. POD MOAs support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Strategic National Stockpile program, serving as an agreement that allows the School of Nursing to receive and dispense medications and/or administer vaccinations to employees and employees’ family members in the event of an emergency such as anthrax, Ebola or pandemic influenza.”
