Drug allergy passport advised for patients with hypersensitivity

(HealthDay)—A drug allergy passport, providing information on culprit drugs, clinical manifestations, and alternate drugs to prescribe, should be provided to patients with drug hypersensitivity, according to a position paper published online May 4 in Allergy.

Noting that proper documentation is essential for doctors to make correct therapeutic decisions, Knut Brochow, M.D., from the Technical University Munich in Germany, and colleagues developed a drug allergy passport, as well as guidelines for drug allergy documentation for recording drug hypersensitivity.

The authors note that a drug allergy passport, drug allergy alert card, certificate, and discharge letter after medical evaluation are sufficient for documenting drug hypersensitivity. Patients should be advised to carry the documentation at all times and especially when they are away from home. Information on culprit drugs (including international non-proprietary name), clinical manifestations, diagnostic measures, potential cross-reactivity, alternate drugs to prescribe, and where more detailed information can be obtained should be included in the drug allergy passport. The passport should be provided to patients after a full allergy work-up.

"In the future, electronic prescription systems with alert functions will become more common and should include the same information as in paper-based documentation," the authors write.