Inappropriate Antibiotic Allergy Documentation in Medical Files: A Qualitative Study on Family Physicians’ and Pharmacists’ Experiences

Article for Discussion

De Clercq K, Cals JWL, de Bont EGPM. Inappropriate antibiotic allergy documentation in health records: a qualitative study on family physicians’ and pharmacists’ experiences. Ann Fam Med. 2020; 18( 4): 326– 333.OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text

Discussion Tips

Qualitative research offers an opportunity to gain a richer understanding of why things are happening.

As clinicians, we have pondered similar questions the researchers asked family physicians and pharmacists about antibiotic allergies. Consider how you deal with patient-reported allergies as a physician. How granular are your system’s reporting mechanisms? Is your electronic medical record connected to the pharmacist’s medical record?

Discussion Questions

• What question is asked by this study and why does it matter?

• How does this study advance beyond previous research and clinical practice on this topic?

• What is a focus group? How strong is this study design for answering the question? What are weaknesses of this type of study?

  • ○ What is saturation?

• What methods did the authors use to minimize bias in the conduct and analysis of the study?

• To what degree can the findings be accounted for by:

  1. How participants were selected or excluded?

  2. How the findings were interpreted?

• What are the main study findings?

  • ○ How did you feel about the grouping of quotes into 3 main categories?

  • ○ Did the highlighted quotes support the analysis? Did you identify with any of the quotes?

  • ○ What is a fish-bone diagram? Does it help you understand what is going on here?

• How comparable is the study sample to your location? What is your judgment about the transportability of the findings?

  • ○ Do you relate to the focus group participants?

• What contextual factors are important for interpreting the findings?

  • ○ What is an allergy registration?

• How might this study change your practice? Policy? Education? Research?

• What challenges do you see with trying to improve the reporting of antibiotic allergies?

• What are the next steps in interpreting or applying the findings?

• What researchable questions remain?