TY - JOUR

T1 - Healthcare professionals' attitudes to penicillin allergy labels

AU - Raun, Ida Josephine

AU - Tengberg, Pernille Bach

AU - Møller, Tom

AU - Garvey, Lene Heise

N1 - Articles published in the DMJ are “open access”. This means that the articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - INTRODUCTION: About 10% of hospital inpatients are labelled with penicillin allergy in their electronic medical record (EMR). However, allergy is confirmed in less than 10% of these records. Consequently, 90% of patients are treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. We aimed to explore experiences and practices of healthcare professionals that may explain incorrect labelling of penicillin allergy in Denmark and elucidate any consequences hereof.METHODS: An electronic survey was distributed to physicians and nurses in six hospital units in Copenhagen and via social media. The survey was active from 19 March to 1 May 2020. Data were assessed using descriptive statistics and by thematic analysis.RESULTS: The response rate was 44.6%. The survey had 369 participants; 152 physicians and 217 nurses. Half of the physicians and one in every five nurses had experienced problems treating patients with a penicillin allergy label. Physicians reported limited trust in allergy labels, and labelling practices varied. The risk that patients may be truly allergic was the main reason for not removing labels (72%), and a precautionary principle was identified related to penicillin allergy labelling.CONCLUSIONS: The penicillin allergy label is an independent factor of medication errors. Solutions to enhance patient safety may include education of physicians in allergy labelling, decision support, standardisation of the allergy registration in the various EMR systems used, and ideally also a national drug allergy register, which is accessible from all sectors.FUNDING: None.TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not relevant.

AB - INTRODUCTION: About 10% of hospital inpatients are labelled with penicillin allergy in their electronic medical record (EMR). However, allergy is confirmed in less than 10% of these records. Consequently, 90% of patients are treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. We aimed to explore experiences and practices of healthcare professionals that may explain incorrect labelling of penicillin allergy in Denmark and elucidate any consequences hereof.METHODS: An electronic survey was distributed to physicians and nurses in six hospital units in Copenhagen and via social media. The survey was active from 19 March to 1 May 2020. Data were assessed using descriptive statistics and by thematic analysis.RESULTS: The response rate was 44.6%. The survey had 369 participants; 152 physicians and 217 nurses. Half of the physicians and one in every five nurses had experienced problems treating patients with a penicillin allergy label. Physicians reported limited trust in allergy labels, and labelling practices varied. The risk that patients may be truly allergic was the main reason for not removing labels (72%), and a precautionary principle was identified related to penicillin allergy labelling.CONCLUSIONS: The penicillin allergy label is an independent factor of medication errors. Solutions to enhance patient safety may include education of physicians in allergy labelling, decision support, standardisation of the allergy registration in the various EMR systems used, and ideally also a national drug allergy register, which is accessible from all sectors.FUNDING: None.TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not relevant.

KW - Humans

KW - Drug Hypersensitivity/etiology

KW - Hypersensitivity

KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents/adverse effects

KW - Attitude of Health Personnel

KW - Penicillins/adverse effects

UR - https://ugeskriftet.dk/dmj/healthcare-professionals-attitudes-penicillin-allergy-labels

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37622646

VL - 70

JO - Danish Medical Journal

JF - Danish Medical Journal

SN - 2245-1919

IS - 9

M1 - A03230180

ER -