title: Program to remove incorrect allergy documentation in pediatrics medical records.
abstract: The incidence of incorrectly reported drug allergies in a pediatrics hospital and the effectiveness of pharmacist interventions to clarify these reports were studied. A four-month prospective study included children (< or = 18 years of age) with at least one drug allergy reported in their medical chart. Drug allergies were assessed by a pharmacist who labeled the reactions as true, incorrectly reported, or undetermined allergies, in accordance with defined criteria. When an incorrectly reported allergy was removed from a patient's chart with the consent of the attending physician, the intervention was reported to the community pharmacist. A total of 186 of 248 drug allergies identified in 1591 patient charts were challenged. Of these, 26 (14%), 103 (55%), and 57 (31%) were considered true, undetermined, and incorrectly reported drug allergies, respectively, by the pharmacist. A total of 53 (93%) incorrectly reported allergies were removed from patients' charts with the consent of the attending physicians. Community pharmacists were contacted in 25 of these cases. At follow-up, the incorrect allergy documentation was found to have been removed from 23 community pharmacy charts. A pharmacist found numerous incorrectly reported allergies in a pediatrics hospital and assisted in removing them from patients' medical charts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Hôpital Sainte-Justine (HSJ), University of Montreal (UM), Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bouwmeester
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Laberge
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bussières
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lebel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Harel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards*; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D010595:Pharmacists; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012380:Role