Allergic and hypersensitivity conditions in non-specialist care: Flow diagrams to support clinical practice.

Most patients presenting with allergies are first seen by primary care health professionals. The perceived knowledge gaps and educational needs were recently assessed in response to which the LOGOGRAM Task Force was established with the remit of constructing pragmatic flow diagrams for common allergic conditions in line with an earlier EAACI proposal to develop simplified pathways for the diagnosis and management of allergic diseases in primary care. To address the lack of accessible and pragmatic guidance, we designed flow diagrams for five major clinical allergy conditions: asthma, anaphylaxis, food allergy, drug allergy, and urticaria. Existing established allergy guidelines were collected and iteratively distilled to produce five pragmatic and accessible tools to aid diagnosis and management of these common allergic problems. Ultimately, they should now be validated prospectively in primary care settings.

Drug allergy in primary care: systematic review to support quality improvement initiative of management and optimization of healthcare pathways.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this study was to review the practice of general practitioners (GPs) in regard to the diagnosis and management of drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHRs) to identify major challenges and to facilitate the development of decision support tools to GPs confronted with DHRs patients. RECENT FINDINGS: DHRs are still a challenge in the GPs clinical practice, which implies difficulties in clinical decisions and referral to allergy specialists. SUMMARY: DHRs can range from mild to severe and even life-threatening. Drugs are the main cause of anaphylaxis deaths in most countries. Most DHRs are firstly seen by GPs, paediatricians or emergency doctors. However, our systematic review demonstrated difficulties in differentiating DHRs from other drug side effects. Most DHRs epidemiological data are from hospital and emergency departments, which may not reflect the real-life experience in primary care. GPs should be aware of the alert signs of DHRs: the involvement of other systems beyond the skin and/or atypical skin/ mucosal involvement, which mandated immediate referral to an emergency department. Data still stress difficulties in the recognition of DHRs clinical manifestations and highlight the need for decision aids to support their management by GPs. Structured clinical history and clinical examination are key diagnostic tools. Reasons for referring to allergy specialists based on the literature are to investigate cause, to undergo specific procedure, such as desensitization and to identify well tolerated, alternative drugs.