A survey of inpatient practitioner knowledge of penicillin allergy at 2 community teaching hospitals

The negative effect of the penicillin allergy label on antibiotic use and patient outcomes has brought to light the need for thorough penicillin allergy assessments and heightened practitioner education.

To evaluate practitioner knowledge of penicillin allergy and the clinical approach to the patients with penicillin allergy.

An electronic survey was distributed to attending physicians, residents, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants practicing adult inpatient medicine at 2 community-based teaching hospitals from February to April 2016.

A total of 276 (39%) of 716 practitioners completed surveys were analyzed. Most respondents were attending physicians (45%) with more than 10 years of experience (53%). Approximately half of the respondents indicated that they were unfamiliar with the rate of cross-reactivity between penicillin and cephalosporin (46%), carbapenem (42%), and monobactam (48%) antibiotics. When evaluating the role of penicillin skin testing and temporary induction of drug tolerance in the case vignettes, only 41% and 19% of respondents appropriately considered these options as the leading antibiotic management plan, respectively. Despite acknowledging the need for allergy/immunology consultation in clinical scenarios, 86% of respondents indicated that they never consult an allergist or immunologist or do so only once per year. Overall, pharmacists had a better understanding of the natural history of penicillin allergy and antibiotic cross-reactivity (P < .05).

There is an overall limited understanding of the management of patients with a history of penicillin allergy in the hospital setting, where collaborative efforts between allergy and nonallergy health care practitioners are sparse. The expansion of a multidisciplinary approach may optimize antimicrobial prescribing in this subset of patients.