De-Pap

There are significant issues relating to patients who are incorrectly labelled with penicillin allergy. Many of these patients, in fact, can tolerate penicillin. The use of penicillin reduces the length and cost of a stay in the hospital, as well as the threat of antimicrobial resistance. Current algorithms to de-label penicillin allergies are complicated to follow and often require admission into specialist centres in metropolitan areas for skin testing, direct oral challenge, and subsequent monitoring. An allergy skin test is labour intensive, slow and not always accurate. The incidence of penicillin allergy is high and specialist centres which perform these tests are not easily accessible. There is a study of over 400 patients looked at what constitutes low risk and high-risk patients. The review suggests that the low-risk patients can be identified by asking the right questions (questionnaire) followed by direct oral challenge without needing to conduct skin tests. In this project, we will develop a mobile app and dashboard to efficiently assess the level of risk of penicillin allergy and provide advice on management. The app integrates existing evidence into a quick and easy-to-use format, easily accessible for clinicians in rural or regional areas. The app allows hospital clinicians or GP to conduct the assessment and enables specialist groups (immunologists) to provide prompt feedback via telecommunication and also provides an online forum for questions and any technical troubleshooting.