ABSTRACT

The participants were composed of specialist doctors (25.9%), pediatric residents (31.9%) and other healthcare staff (42.2%). Eighty-four (50.6%) of the participants were found to have received training on anaphylaxis. Among the trained healthcare providers, 62 (73.8%) informed us that epinephrine by intramuscular route was applied during anaphylaxis. On the other hand, only 32 (39%) of untrained healthcare providers had chosen the intramuscular administration of epinephrine (p=0.00). 27.8% of those who had not received anaphylaxis training knew about it, while 64.8% of the healthcare providers who had received anaphylaxis training knew about adrenaline autoinjector. Only 5 of those who knew about the adrenaline auto-injector (5.3%) had prescribed the adrenaline report. While 81 (48.8%) of the participitants had some knowledge about the epinephrine auto-injector, only two specialists and three pediatric residents (3%) were found to prescribe the epinephrine auto-injector.

Post-graduate training is required for the treatment of anaphylaxis. All healthcare providers should be trained on the use of epinephrine and prescribing epinephrine auto-injector.

The study was carried out between February 1st and March 15th, 2014 at Dr. Sami Ulus Maternity and Children’s Research and Training Hospital, a tertiary care hospital. A total of 166 healthcare providers, including physicians and other staff such as nurses and paramedics, participated in the study. The demographic characteristics, experience in treating anaphylaxis and epinephrine auto-injector training were obtained using a standardized questionnaire. The obtained data were statistically analyzed.

Only epinephrine should be administered to treat anaphylaxis and patients should be prescribed epinephrine auto-injectors on discharge. This questionnaire study was designed to determine the awareness of physicians and other healthcare providers concerning anaphylaxis and the use of epinephrine auto-injectors at a tertiary child care hospital.