A Survey of Health Care Professionals’ Knowledge and Practice toward Penicillin Allergy
Mohamed Balaha
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Nehad Ahmed *
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Faisal Alonazi
College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Saleh Alshehri
College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: The present study aimed to describe health care professionals’ Knowledge and Practice toward Penicillin Allergy.
Methodology: This was a cross sectional study that was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The data of the present study were collected from the health care professionals using an online survey that was prepared using google forms and was sent to health care specialists through WhatsApp.
Results: About 13% of the respondents don’t take the allergy history, 12% rarely take the allergy history, and 21% of the respondents said that they take the history sometimes. Only 45.07% of the healthcare providers said that they are satisfied with their knowledge of drug hypersensitivity reactions. Moreover, more than 70% of the healthcare workers agreed that penicillin allergy has an adverse impact on patient’s quality of life. More than 44% of them informed that penicillin allergy occurred frequently in their daily practice.
Conclusion: There was a lack in the knowledge of the healthcare providers about penicillin allergy. Educational interventions are needed in order to increase the awareness of the healthcare providers and to improve the wise use of penicillin and other antibiotics.
Keywords: Health care professionals, knowledge, penicillin allergy