Podcast 712: Cephalosporin with a Penicillin Allergy

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

• Retrospective cohort study in the Kaiser system looked at over 4 million patients receiving antibiotics to determine the effect of penicillin allergy prompts in the EHR on antibiotic prescribing
• Half of the sites removed prompts stating penicillin allergy and half kept the prompts
• Patients with penicillin allergies who received cephalosporins went up from 20% to 27% in areas where the prompt was remove
• No difference in mortality or no new allergies found between the two groups
• Reduced the use of fluoroquinolones and clindamycin in the group without the prompt

References

Macy E, McCormick TA, Adams JL, et al. Association Between Removal of a Warning Against Cephalosporin Use in Patients With Penicillin Allergy and Antibiotic Prescribing. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(4):e218367. Published 2021 Apr 1. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8367

Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

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