Detecting Patient Allergy: Beware the LIE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Allergy detection is important in surgical patients. Historically, the focus has been on drug allergies. There is increasing focus on non-drug allergy, specifically latex, iodine and elastoplast. PATIENTS AND METHODS The practice and knowledge of 24 pre-registration house officers was evaluated, with regard to patient allergy. For the second phase of the study, the cohort of 367 consecutive patients presenting to the orthopaedic pre-assessment clinic was prospectively assessed. RESULTS This prospective study demonstrates that standard history-taking misses a large number (38%) of such allergies. CONCLUSIONS With regard to allergy detection, we are living a LIE (by ignoring latex, iodine, elastoplast allergy). We suggest junior doctors should employ the mnemonic LIED (latex, iodine, elastoplast and drugs) when taking a medical history.