Introduction -- Approach to standards development -- Recommended standards on the number and location of PODs -- Recommended standards for internal POD operations -- Recommended standards for POD staffing -- Recommended standards on POD security -- Next steps -- Appendix A: Instrument for data collection from CRI sites -- Appendix B: List of panelists -- Appendix C: Location modeling and analysis -- Appendix D: Modeling and analysis of POD operations and staffing
Summary
Since 2001, the U.S. government has spent more than $7 billion to enhance state and local preparedness for bioterrorism attacks, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and other large-scale public health emergencies. A central component of this effort involves the ability to dispense antibiotics and other life-saving medical countermeasures to large populations under short timelines. This report presents recommended standards for points of dispensing (or PODs), locations where the public would receive life-saving antibiotics or other medical countermeasures during a large-scale public health emergency. The standards, which are designed to apply to widely divergent jurisdictions, rely on expert panel evaluations, current POD planning practices, and computer-modeled scenarios
Notes
Title from PDF cover
"Sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services and was carried out within the RAND Health Center for Domestic and International Health Security."
