[Anesthesiologist's aptitude for peri-operative detection and treatment of latex allergy].
BACKGROUND
Latex allergy is the second cause of perioperative anaphylaxis. Anesthesiologists play a key role in opportune identification of risk factors, as well as clinical diagnosis and therapeutic management.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the anesthesiologists aptitude to identify and treat latex allergy.


METHODS
Sixty-six anesthesiologists from five general hospitals located at Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, were evaluated. Aptitude was determined by applying a validated structured instrument. Aptitude levels were measured by using an ordinal scale. Comparisons were performed using Mann Whitney U test.


RESULTS
Anesthesiologist's global aptitude ranged from -2 to 27 with a median of 8 (from a maximum value in the scale of 40); frequencies by each category of the scale were: Random 48 (72.7%), Very bad 11 (16.7%), Bad 4 (6.1%) and Medium only 3 (4.5%). Both Good and Very good categories registered no anesthesiologist. The relationship of this indicator with other variables did not reach statistical significance (KW 6.478; p = 0.16617).


CONCLUSIONS
A suboptimal aptitude was identified among anesthesiologists regarding identification of latex allergy. A need to establish new strategies for educative intervention in order to improve this issue was identified.
Cabrera-Pivaral
Carlos Enrique
CE
Dirección de Educación e Investigación en Salud, Instituto de Investigación en Salud Ocupacional, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, México. carlos.cabrera@imss.gob.mx
Rangel-Ramírez
Angel Alberto
AA
Franco-Chávez
Sergio
S
Gámez-Nava
Jorge Iván
JI
Riebeling
Carlos
C
Nava
Arnulfo
A
D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001076:Aptitude; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D020315:Latex Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D019990:Perioperative Care; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D012307:Risk Factors