Efficiency and Effectiveness of Using Nonmedical Staff during an Urgent Mass Prophylaxis Response

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health tested the readiness of a nonmedical closed point-of-dispensing (POD) site, using a simulated anthrax scenario, to see how rapidly and accurately it could provide medication to its internal population. The authors concluded that nonmedical closed PODs are a valuable strategy during a public health emergency that requires large segments of a population to receive medication rapidly; they also provided related recommendations.