COVID-19: RESOURCE AVAILABILITY - POD (Points of dispensing) Worksheet What is a POD?

Question Answered step-by-step COVID-19: RESOURCE AVAILABILITY – POD (Points of dispensing) WorksheetWhat is a POD?POD or points of dispensing, are community locations in which state and local agencies dispense MCMs to the public during a public health emergency.To aid in rapidly dispensing MCMs (medical countermeasures), the local public health department will plan on using two types of PODs, open and closed. Open PODs are located at large public locations such as arenas or schools. These dispensing locations are operated by local public health departments to distribute MCMs to the public. Closed PODs are sites staffed and managed by partner organizations to dispense MCMs only to their own populations while continuing normal operations during an emergency.Open and closed PODs can and should be used simultaneously and have the following common goals for serving the community.Screening recipients for sensitivities to the MCMs being dispensed.Providing education and communication regarding benefits of taking medication to prevent a disease and potential adverse reactions.Dispensing medical countermeasures in a timely manner.Tracking and reporting medical countermeasures dispensed.There is now a COVID-19 vaccine available, how will this be dispensed in your community. Using the discussion questions from the “Public Health Discussion Guide For Pandemic Influenza Planning”, share your answers on how your community would/is addressing Resource Availability, specifically COVID-19 vaccines.Upload completed worksheet to NL462 Moodle drop box. Situation 1: In order to keep people away from your health department and healthcare facilities, points of dispensing (PODs) for antivirals and/or vaccinations are set up in several locations in your community. · Who is responsible for setting up and managing these PODs? · What are the sources of the antivirals and vaccinations for the PODs? · How do you communicate with healthcare providers (hospitals, primary care, urgent care, long-term care facilities and others) about these PODs? What do you communicate? · Who will staff these PODs? · If you need medically trained personnel from other entities to assist in the operation of these PODs, will you contact your community’s healthcare providers for assistance? o If so, which healthcare provider(s) will you contact?o If not, who will you contact and why? – In what other ways can your community’s healthcare providers assist you in the operation of these PODs?· Share your thoughts on public opinion on safety of the COVID-19 and refusal to be vaccinated.Situation 2: Your health department is tasked with providing vaccines to pre-identified essential organizations/personnel in your community.Has your public health department pre-identified essential organizations/personnel in your community? If not, why?· Do these essential organizations/personnel include your community’s healthcare providers (hospitals, primary care, urgent care, long-term care facilities and others)? · If so, who is pre-identified as being essential?· If you have not identified any of your community’s healthcare providers as being essential, why not? · How could your public health department benefit from their being identified as essential? · How could the healthcare provider benefit from being identified as being essential? Who determines the number of vaccines to distribute to these organizations/personnel? -How do you ensure these vaccines are properly used?How are these vaccines controlled and secured prior to and during distribution? Health Science Science Nursing NB 213 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)