Point of Dispensing Sites (PODS)

Strategic Function: To establish a place or point of dispensing designed to provide and deliver mass prophylaxis as well as patient information and individual support services.

Why: A key to decreasing the impact of an infectious disease is to provide a vaccine, if available, or treatment with antibiotics or other appropriate medications as soon as possible to those exposed to a pathogenic agent.  Traditional services (hospitals, public health clinics, urgent care centers, community health clinics) for providing medications or vaccinations to individuals will not be sufficient for large numbers or entire populations to receive prophylaxis in a very short time period of time.

Who: The planning to accommodate community-wide mass prophylaxis during an overwhelming incident where entire populations need access to interventions must include; public health, emergency management, law enforcement, chief elected officials, hospitals and clinics and all other health care delivery stakeholders within the community.

When: The activation of a POD for mass prophylaxis will be determined by New Mexico Department of Health. Guidance on prioritization of groups to receive medications will be developed at the State level and disseminated to communities for implementation into their response activities.

Where: Points of Dispensing Sites should be pre-identified through collaborative planning on the local level and number and size of sites locally will be population dependent. Mass prophylaxis programs should be coordinated with and complement treatment provided by other alternate patient care areas. 

• New Mexico Department of Health personnel at local and regional levels are responsible for the oversight and management of POD sites. Tribal personnel will manage PODS that are implemented by tribes on tribal lands.
• New Mexico Department of Health is the lead agency for mass prophylaxis planning and response.  A community’s planning efforts must be coordinated with NMDOH POD policies. 
• Security at each POD site will be necessary, particularly if there is any measure of public panic.
• Any mass prophylaxis program must reach affected individuals who are unable to visit a POD.

• Are local public health representatives at the table for medical surge response planning?
• Does your community emergency response system utilize incident management?
• How will your homebound, institutionalized (long-term care) and other at risk individuals (children, pregnant women, senior citizens and other individuals who have special needs in the event of a public health emergency) be accommodated in your community’s POD or mass prophylaxis planning?
• Have POD sites been pre-identified in your area? *
• Has security of the POD site been considered? **
  
  

*A sample tool to identify a POD site:
New Mexico Point of Dispensing Planning Guide, Draft Updated February 10, 2008

**A sample tool for developing POD security:
Dave Nutini, CRI Coordinator, Hamilton County Public Health, 250 William H. Taft, 2nd FL Cincinnati, OH 45219 - Security Assessment Tool for POD Planning for Mass Prophylaxis or Mass Inoculation

 

 

 

Summary
Point of Dispensing Sites (PODS) are designed to provide mass prophylaxis, as well as patient information and individual support services.

Process for Patient Consent
Description of how to obtain and document patient consent to receive prophylaxis.

Documentation Requirements
Documentation requirements will be similar for mass prophylaxis as for other community outreach activities and must minimally include: name, address (including zip code), allergies, gender, age, and whether or not individual is symptomatic.

Staffing for POD
A. Description of suggested minimum staffing and plans to augment staff.
*URL listed here*

B. Use "Just in Time” training approach for job descriptions.
University of Minnesota: Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - San Francisco Job Action Sheets

Patient Tracking
Emergency Response Patient Tracking Model

Other
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - Community-Based Mass Prophylaxis: A Planning Guide for Public Health Preparedness

Louisiana offers the following:
1) we rotate doxycycline through our public health STD clinics
2) We have also established a cache with a vendor (Morris and Dickson) who rotate store and rotate stock for us. We check on the cache - quantity and expiration dates - on a quarterly bases and re-adjust as necessary.
Contact: Rosanne Prats via email:rprats@DHH.LA.GOV

Michigan has contracted with a "Reverse Distribution" company. These are companies that routinely work with hospitals, pharmacies etc to collect expiring drugs. There are different programs for the "reimbursement process". The credited amount can then be redirected to the purchase of additional pharmaceuticals based on the company and the program. In addition, the company itself will keep a % of the transaction as their "fee".
Contact: Linda Scott via email:ScottLin@MICHIGAN.GOV

Washington State Department of Ecology, Hazardous Waste and Toxic Reduction Program. This site discusses the benefits of contracting with a reverse distributor to use for medication rotation but not as a waste management strategy.

An article from ECRM, Volume 2.

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