In the era of evidence-based medicine, physicians worldwide should abide by universally approved practices and healthcare units should seek quality control and operational improvement. This audit evaluates the degree of compliance with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of anaphylaxis in a pediatric Allergy Department. Medical records of 248 children with food-induced allergic reactions who presented both on emergency and outpatient basis were reviewed. Data were also collected from the e-prescription database and anaphylaxis severity was graded according to Sampson's criteria. An accuracy metric was used to calculate the consistency rate. Anaphylaxis was documented in 188/423 allergic reactions. The degree of agreement for the classification of the reactions as anaphylactic was 88.3%, while the respective rate for non-anaphylactic was 58.7%. In the anaphylactic cases, adrenaline was prescribed in 84.8%, while the respective rates for other drugs were: antihistamines: 27.6%; corticosteroids: 26.1%; inhaled β2-agonists: 11.8%. This study, through the example of pediatric food-induced anaphylaxis, underlines the significance of compliance to guidelines, organized documentation in healthcare units using specially formulated medical history forms and continuous medical stuff training. Thus, diagnosis and treatment practices can be improved for the benefit of patients.
Keywords: adrenaline; anaphylaxis; children; clinical audit; food allergy; guidelines.