Site Considerations for Points of Dispensing After Biological Terrorist Attack

The use of points of dispensing (PODs) is commonly considered a means of dispensing medication or prophylaxis after a biological attack or disease outbreak. The ability to dispense postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) quickly through multiple PODs could save a large proportion of those who were exposed; failure in the PEP dispensing campaign could have dire public health consequences. Although preevent planning is critical to ensure a successful POD implementation, many planning efforts required to facilitate the timely dispensing of PEP have focused on staffing needs and the internal structure within PODs. Less attention has been placed on the logistical challenges of operations that occur outside PODs. This study proposed consideration of an external process (e.g., parking and traffic control) of POD planning with the internal process (e.g., staffing and equipment allocation for medical service) in an integrated manner. A VISSIM-based modeling tool was developed to implement this concept by simulating the ent...