Background and Importance Poor documentation of drug hypersensitivities in patient records can lead to allergic reactions. Developing tools for accurate hypersensitivity documentation can prevent prescription errors. However, there is no consensus on how hypersensitivities should be routinely documented electronically. We developed a new structured and coded hypersensitivity documentation tool with a semi-automatic de-labelling feature in collaboration with end-users¹ and implemented it in our university hospital in May 2022.

Aim and Objectives To evaluate the satisfaction of physicians and hospital pharmacists with the new hypersensitivity documentation tool after implementation in clinical practice.

Material and Methods An electronic survey was sent to physicians and hospital pharmacists to evaluate the tool’s satisfaction in clinical practice. Data collected between April and September 2023 included demographics, user satisfaction, experience with the tool, and suggestions for improvement. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used to evaluate satisfaction. Closed-ended responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential analysis (Mann-Whitney U test).

Results Survey was completed by 286 physicians (47%) and nine hospital pharmacists (90%), of which 167 (57%) reported using the tool. Reasons for non-use included tool unawareness (52%), preference for free text documentation (28%), no time (14%) and no patients with drug allergies (14%). The median SUS score of users was 60 (IQR=20), translating in an adjective rating of ‘OK’. Hospital pharmacists had a significantly higher median SUS score (75, IQR=25) than physicians (55, IQR=18), corresponding to adjective ratings ‘Good’ and ‘OK’, respectively (Z=2.838, p=0.005). Only 81 participants (28%) indicated being familiar with inactivating hypersensitivities. About 35% of physicians reported prescribing medications to which patients have an allergy. Physicians expressed concern about documentation burden and wanted allergy alerts when prescribing.

Conclusion and Relevance Training physicians could increase awareness about drug hypersensitivities and use of the documentation tool. Although users considered the new tool relatively good in clinical practice, its efficiency can still be improved. Bridging the gap between minimal documentation requirements for an alert system and physicians’ time constraints to document is crucial. Involving hospital pharmacists could reduce the time burden for physicians and improve accurate documentation of hypersensitivities.

References and/or Acknowledgements 1. Muylle K, et al. Usability of graphical user interfaces with semiautomatic delabeling feature to improve drug allergy documentation. JACI in Practice. 2023 Feb;11(2):519–526.e3.

Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest.