Level of knowledge among healthcare professionals regarding anaphylaxis.

BACKGROUND

Anaphylaxis is defined as a severe, life-threatening systemic hypersensitivity reaction. Healthcare professionals must recognize the symptoms, apply correct treatment immediately, and provide epinephrine auto-injectors (EAI) to patients who experience anaphylaxis.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aimed to investigate the knowledge of healthcare professionals regarding anaphylaxis.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study, which was conducted between February 2022 and March 2022, included healthcare professionals working in various hospitals in Turkey. A survey consisting of 21 questions which concerned with the demographic data, personal experience and level of knowledge about anaphylaxis was applied to healthcare professionals.

RESULTS

The study included a total of 301 participants, comprising 160 specialist physicians (53.16%), 86 resident physicians (28.57%), 31 family physicians (10.3%), and 24 allied health personnel (7.97%). Most of the healthcare professionals (93%) chose epinephrine as the first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. Two hundred ten participants (69.77%) knew the correct dose of epinephrine in the treatment of anaphylaxis, and allied healthcare professionals had least knowledge ( = 0.009). The participants who received anaphylaxis training and had experience with anaphylaxis had a higher knowledge about epinephrine dosing ( < 0.001 and = 0.003, respectively). Only 49.17% of the participants knew the epinephrine doses of EAIs, and only 19% of participants had prescribed an EAI.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that healthcare professionals' knowledge about epinephrine doses in the treatment of anaphylaxis was not sufficient. Furthermore, the prescribing rate of EAIs was still inadequate. There is a need for national training programs to increase and update the knowledge of healthcare professionals to reduce anaphylaxis mortality.