Answering the call

Helping vaccinate the community

Early morning on Tuesday, January 19th, Dean JEANNETTE ANDREWS received a phone call from the college’s clinical partner, Prisma Health, sharing an urgent need for volunteers at their newly opened vaccination site at Gamecock Park. Within a few hours KAREN WORTHY, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, and the faculty in clinical undergraduate courses recruited 51 student volunteers to the vaccination location. Faculty and students heeded the request for help, and the college arranged to rotate Prisma clinical groups at Gamecock Park for the rest of the week. By the end of the week, over 130 students assisted in administering approximately 5,780 vaccines. "Our students had the opportunity to work in one of three stages of the vaccination clinic: intake/registration, immunization, and observation. During an ongoing public health emergency, the need to teach becomes critical as new graduates will be entering the profession during the current COVID-19 pandemic and must be prepared to practice,” says Dr. Worthy. LIAM HEIN, Associate Professor, volunteered to oversee six undergraduate nursing students qualified to administer vaccines. "They jumped right in. We rotated roles by registering them into VAMS (the computer system), processing their cards, screening them, administering shots, and providing aftercare instructions. We had a smooth system running in 30 minutes," says Dr. Hein. This unprecedented pandemic has shifted many norms for nursing students. Still, it has also presented an abundance of unique learning opportunities to build critical skills needed to be successful and compassionate nurses. Dr. Hein says he reminds students that ten years from now, when their children or nieces/nephews ask them what they did to help during the pandemic, they can say they helped administer vaccines to keep people safe. And that's a legacy they can be proud of. Dr. Hein shares how proud he is of the students, "Yes, it's a clinical experience, but they, too, are at risk in this role. They eagerly stood up and helped out using a skill set they could offer.”

BSN student LINDSEY LIPMAN met

patients and administered the vaccine to individuals, signed their forms, and wrote timecards to place on their windshields for their

15 minute waiting period after vaccination. Lipman says from this experience, she learned how much it takes everyone to come together to stop the spread of COVID-19. “There were so many people involved in the distribution of the vaccine, whether it was on the administrative side filling out paperwork and directing cars or the clinical side of drawing up and administering the vaccine,” she shares. At the end of her shift, she felt proud to administer vaccines to so many individuals who needed it the most. She had the opportunity to chat with and meet people who had amazing stories to tell, stories that she says deserve to be heard and protected. “The COVID-19 vaccine is helping do just that by protecting these individuals. Just as everyone else, my life has been greatly affected by COVID-19, and it was truly incredible to see the amount of hope this vaccine is providing to people,” she says.

BSN student ASHLEY OWENSalso

administered 34 vaccinations on

the day she volunteered. Owens says this experience was a faster pace than the actual hospital site. It was a great bonding experience for her MedSurg Clinical Group as well. Owens feels like she is impacting the community by working together with health care professionals to fight this pandemic. because of my commitment to serve, strengthen, and improve the health of our community," says KAIMYA SHOSAN, BSN

student. "By doing my part, I contributed to a massive effort

that is very fulfilling." Shosan also feels the volunteer opportunity solidified her commitment and desire to be a nurse.

With the overwhelming number of community members signing up to get vaccinations, numerous other vaccine sites called on the College of Nursing for assistance. Over the semester, 670 nursing students and 65 faculty members modeled the core nursing value of commitment. Students and faculty volunteered 6,839 hours at local vaccine sites to improve the Columbia community's health and battle COVID-19. Students delivered vaccines in partnership with Dorn VA and UofSC Veterans Clinic, Kershaw Health, Lexington Medical Center, Mackey Family Practice, Piedmont Medical Center, Prisma Health (Gamecock Park), Providence Health and St. Joseph Catholic Schools, United Cerebral Palsy, and the UofSC Student Health Center.

The sites provided students with a unique opportunity to work in critical community health settings. Students rotated tasks and were exposed to various duties such as patient intake, health assessment, and patient communication. Eligible students also practiced intramuscular injections, which is a skill students rarely perform in the acute care setting as most medications are oral or IV.

ERIC TYLER of the UofSC Student Health Center said that the

nursing students were a tremendous asset to University Health Services. "Their participation allowed our staff to focus on other efforts with the confidence that COVID-19 related tasks

assigned to the student volunteers would be handled with the utmost care and eagerness," Tyler shares.

VIEW THE VIDEO THANKING OUR GAMECOCK NURSES →