Allergy immunotherapy in the primary care setting.
Allergy immunotherapy commonly is administered in primary care practices by nurses and medical assistants, who often have little education or experience in this procedure. An assessment of an organization's 18 primary care offices revealed a number of deficiencies in clinical practices and documentation. The goals of an improvement initiative were to ensure that allergy immunotherapy practices complied with published guidelines and to improve staff's patient assessments, dosage calculations, and documentation skills. A policy was developed to guide practice, practice standards were implemented, staff education was provided, documentation methods and standards were established, and ongoing monitoring was set in place. After 2 years, allergy immunotherapy practices are standardized throughout the organization and improvements have been noted.
Kramer
Joan
J
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA. jkramer@jhmi.edu
Crocetti
Susan
S
D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000592:standards*; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States