AAAAI Position Statement on Changing Electronic Health Record Allergy Documentation to "Alerts" to Lead to Easily Understood, Actionable Labels

Authors

Andrew A. White, Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, Calif.
Allison Ramsey, Rochester Regional HealthFollow
Autumn Guyer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY.
Ryan B. Israelsen, Allergy and Asthma Center of Southern Oregon, Medford, Ore.
Farah Khan, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.
Blanka Kaplan, Northwell, New Hyde Park, NY; Cohen Children's Medical Center, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Queens, NY.
Santhosh Kumar, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Va.
Kimberly G. Blumenthal, Division of Rheumatology Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
Kimberly Risma, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sujani Kakumanu, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wis.
Eric Macy, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Department of Research and Evaluation, Pasadena, Calif.

Department

Allergy and Immunology

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In Practice

Abstract

The term "allergy" is inaccurate for the vast majority of the contents in the current allergy fields of electronic health records (EHRs). While EHRs have transformed access to health information and streamlined the delivery of care, their ability to reliably indicate medications, vaccines, or foods that mandate avoidance versus preferences or mild intolerances, is suboptimal. The current systems are reactive instead of being proactive and frequently fail to communicate the appropriate course of action. This Position Statement of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) advocates for a change in terminology. The section of the EHR currently labeled "allergies" should be renamed "alerts." The term "alert" accurately captures the purpose of this section without incorrectly assigning an allergic mechanism, and prioritizes easily understood and actionable labels. This change has the potential to simultaneously improve patient safety and care. This shift will be the first step in the transformation of the alerts section of the EHR. This document provides a framework for categorizing what should be included in this section. Enacting these changes will require EHR and clinical decision support vendors, healthcare and data standard regulators, allergists, and the larger health care community to work together to bring about these important advances.

First Page

3237

Last Page

3241

DOI

10.1016/j.jaip.2024.09.034

Volume

12

Issue

12

Publication Date

12-1-2024

Medical Subject Headings

Humans; Electronic Health Records; Hypersensitivity (diagnosis); Allergy and Immunology; Documentation; Terminology as Topic; United States

PubMed ID

39488769

Recommended Citation

White, A. A., Ramsey, A., Guyer, A., Israelsen, R. B., Khan, F., Kaplan, B., Kumar, S., Blumenthal, K. G., Risma, K., Kakumanu, S., & Macy, E. (2024). AAAAI Position Statement on Changing Electronic Health Record Allergy Documentation to "Alerts" to Lead to Easily Understood, Actionable Labels. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In Practice, 12 (12), 3237-3241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2024.09.034