Benefit of educational intervention on Autoinjector Technique for caregivers and paediatric patients with food allergies: A literature review

Abstract

Background and objective: The incidence of food allergy among children is on the rise. Children who are diagnosed with a food allergy receive long-term treatment for allergy management from allergy specialists, nurses and dieticians. This management may include the prescription of an adrenaline autoinjector (AAI) if the child is at risk of a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). Therefore, it is important that parents of children with allergies are trained in the recognition of anaphylaxis and in the correct administration of an AAI. However, many parents are unable to correctly administer an AAI when assessed. The aim of this study is to review the current literature on caregiver’s and paediatric patients’ ability to use an AAI. Methodology: An electronic search to evaluate AAI technique in caregivers and children with food allergy was conducted. A total of 323 articles were screened in which 10 studies were reviewed. Results: Seventy-eight percent of parents who had never been trained in the use of an AAI were unable to trigger it. In studies where paediatric patients’ ability to use an AAI was assessed, a mean score of 7.78/9 was derived for AAI knowledge among adolescents. Conclusion: Caregivers and patient’s ability to use an AAI was inconclusive, and further research should address the validation of an assessment tool for AAI use. A significant improvement in AAI use was found after an educational intervention. This highlights the need for improved education for allergic individuals and their caregivers, and further study should explore what are the best educational methods to meet these needs.

Is Switching of Adrenaline Auto Injector Devices a Concern for Anaphylaxis Management? A CROSS-Sectional Study

“…However, in a systematic review, a correct AAI administration technique was shown to be low, with only 32% of parents/caregivers successfully demonstrating correct AAI technique [7]. Similar findings were found in a recent review of the literature, regarding the effectiveness of educational intervention on AAI administration ability, where it was found that the AAI administration success among parents ranged significantly, and the success rates varied from 5.6 to 84% [8]. This may reflect several issues, including training effectiveness or lack of training, user stress during administration, or inherent differences consequent of the design of the individual auto-injector [3].…”

“…The high occurrence of switching brands of AAI among caregivers, as well as the suboptimal training in the different brands of AAI, are concerning findings. Research comparing the administration of different AAI devices and the effects of brand switching is sparse, with a recent review finding only three previous such studies [8]. One study found that success rates dropped after switching between a one-cap (Epipen ® or Jext ® ) and a twocap (Anapen ® ) device without training, (16/45, 36%), compared with participants switched between different single-cap devices (49/63, 78%; p < 0.0001) [14].…”

Teaching children with food allergy to recognize anaphylaxis: The caregivers' perspectives

“…with AAI use. 15,16 While the numbers in each subgroup analysis were small, this study suggests that caregivers with higher annual household incomes were more likely to believe they were responsible for training their child to recognize anaphylaxis and AAI use and exhibited higher confidence in doing so. This may reflect increased access to specialist health care in this group and therefore additional training in AAI use.…”

“…Evidently, the delivery of caregiver training requires improvement. One review of caregiver training in anaphylaxis management found that competence varied significantly between studies and further research is necessary to identify the most effective training strategies; however, clinician instruction on AAI administration correlates significantly with parental comfort with AAI use 15,16 …”

The Impact of Processing and Extraction Methods on the Allergenicity of Targeted Protein Quantification as Well as Bioactive Peptides Derived from Egg

“…Furthermore, OVA is one of the egg allergens, and separating and purifying OVA is crucial for exploring the mechanism and improving egg allergenicity [ 51 , 52 ]. High-purity OVA is often used to investigate the structure and properties of proteins and as an experimental model for allergy [ 53 , 54 , 55 ]. In addition to its functional and nutritional properties, OVA has also been found to have potential therapeutic applications.…”