Views and EXperiences of PEnicillin alleRgy Testing (EXPERT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient and clinician views and experiences of penicillin allergy testing: a qualitative study.
IRAS ID
227393
Contact name
Sarah Tonkin-Crine
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The purpose of this study is to explore clinician and patient views and experiences of referring to, or attending for, penicillin allergy testing. Approximately 10% of the UK population are allergic to penicillin according to their medical records, but fewer than 10% of these people are likely to be truly allergic. A record of penicillin allergy drives prescribing towards alternative broad spectrum antimicrobials that contribute to increased antimicrobial resistance. It is important for people with a suspected penicillin allergy to have this confirmed by appropriate penicillin allergy testing but at present this is not widely accessible and often patients are not referred by general practitioners for pen-allergy testing.
There has been limited research exploring clinician or patient views of antibiotic allergy testing. Studies have explored patients’ experiences of other types of allergy testing and questionnaire studies have explored the views of secondary care clinicians and general practitioners in other countries on referring patients for allergy testing. There have been no qualitative studies to date exploring patients’ views of penicillin allergy testing or any qualitative studies exploring GPs’ views of managing patients with penicillin allergy in the UK.
This study aims to interview GPs and patients in England to understand how patients with a record of penicillin allergy are managed in primary care when they have infections. Information gathered from this study will identify how GPs can be better supported in primary care to refer patients for penicillin allergy testing and to amend primary care records following a negative result. It will also identify how patients can be best informed about the benefits of penicillin allergy testing to encourage attendance for testing.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0291
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion