Cues to improve antibiotic-allergy registration: A mixed-method study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 4; p. e0266473
• Main Authors: Sijbom, Martijn, Braun, Karolina K, Büchner, Frederike L, van Bodegom-Vos, Leti, Hendriks, Bart J C, de Boer, Mark G J, Numans, Mattijs E, Lambregts, Merel M C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07.04.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Allergic reaction; Allergies; Allergy; Anti-Bacterial Agents - adverse effects; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Approximation; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Completeness; Complications and side effects; Computer and Information Sciences; Cues; Drug Hypersensitivity - diagnosis; Drug Hypersensitivity - epidemiology; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Drug stores; Electronic Health Records; Electronic medical records; Health care; Hospitals; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Infectious diseases; Liability; Long term health care; Medical personnel; Medical records; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mixed methods research; Patients; People and Places; Pharmacy; Primary care; Public health; Qualitative research; Registration; Toxicity; Netherlands; Hague Netherlands
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266473

Approximately 2% of patients in primary care practice and up to 25% of hospital patients are registered as being allergic to an antibiotic. However, up to 90% of these registrations are incorrect, leading to unnecessary prescription of 2nd choice antibiotics with the attendant loss of efficacy, increased toxicity and antibiotic resistance. To improve registration, a better understanding is needed of how incorrect labels are attributed. To investigate the quality of antibiotic allergy registration in primary care and identify determinants to improve registration of antibiotic allergies. Registration of antibiotic allergies in primary care practices were analysed for 1) completeness and 2) correctness. To identify determinants for improvement, semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers from four healthcare domains were conducted. A total of 300 antibiotic allergy registrations were analysed for completeness and correctness. Thirty-four healthcare providers were interviewed. A registration was defined as complete when it included a description of all symptoms, time to onset of symptoms and the duration of symptoms. It was defined as correct when the conclusion was concordant with the Salden criteria. Determinants of correct antibiotic allergy registrations were divided into facilitators or obstructers. Rates of completeness and correctness of registrations were 0% and 29.3%, respectively. The main perceived barriers for correct antibiotic allergy registration were insufficient knowledge, lack of priority, limitations of registration features in electronic medical records (EMR), fear of medical liability and patients interpreting side-effects as allergies. The quality of antibiotic allergy registrations can be improved. Potential interventions include raising awareness of the consequences of incomplete and the importance of correct registrations, by continued education, and above all simplifying registration in an EMR by adequate ICT support.