State and local emergency planners are in the process of designing their Points of Dispensing, or PODs. Planners have been calculating the number of PODs required to provide prophylaxis to the entire population within 48 hours and the number of people per hour (PPH) that must be served in each POD in order to achieve this 48-hour goal. One of the biggest challenges facing planners is determining how to allocate their limited POD staff. During the design process, planners are frequently forced to take educated guesses on the best POD layout and staff distribution. Until now, they needed to conduct expensive and time-consuming exercises and drills to verify the accuracy of their guesses. This broadcast will explore ways in which computer simulation and modeling software can assist planners in designing the most efficient PODs. Panelists will discuss several available computer models, how modeling fits in to the overall exercise program, how modeling can be used during an incident, and ways in which modeling can take some of the guesswork out of POD design and staff allocation.

Note: Though not required, viewing the previous broadcast, Mass Antibiotic Dispensing: Collecting POD Exercise Data, can be useful. This broadcast can viewed at http://www2a.cdc.gov/phtn/MAD5/default.asp.