title: Deficits in allergy knowledge among physicians at academic medical centers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Allergic conditions have high prevalence in the general population. Misconceptions regarding the diagnosis and management of allergic disease among physicians can lead to suboptimal clinical care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the extent of allergy-related knowledge deficits among physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pediatric and internal medicine resident and attending physicians from 2 separate academic medical centers were asked to answer an anonymous electronic survey. Survey questions addressed 7 different allergy content areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred eight physicians completed surveys (23.9% response rate). Respondents had few correct answers (mean ± SD 1.91 ± 1.43). Pediatric respondents had a larger number of correct answers compared with medicine-trained physicians (P < .001). No individual answered every survey question correctly, and 50 respondents (12.3%) had no correct answer. Three hundred seventy-eight respondents (92.6%) were unable to provide correct answers for at least 50% of survey questions. Level of residency training and prior rotation through an allergy and immunology elective correlated with a larger number of correct responses (P < .01). Only 1 survey question had an overall correct response rate higher than 50% (n = 261, 64%). Correct response rate was lower than 30% for 7 of the 9 possible questions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are significant knowledge deficits in many areas of allergy-related content among pediatric and internal medicine physicians and across all levels of training and specialty. Given the prevalence of allergic conditions, the potential implications of a negative impact on clinical care are staggering.
authors.affiliation: Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio. Electronic address: David.stukus@nationwidechildrens.org.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Stukus
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Shari V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Montandon
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Kara J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000486:Allergy and Immunology; D003625:Data Collection; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States