Introduction: Anaphylaxis is a potentially lethal condition. Prevention of mortality depends on the correct diagnosis and on early epinephrine injection by the patients affected.
Objective: Evaluate practical knowledge of diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of anaphylaxis in general practitioners.
Material and methods: 100 GPs were inquired through the use of an anonymous and voluntary questionnaire with 5 multiple-choice questions (just one correct answer): 3 about diagnostic aspects and two about therapeutic aspects of anaphylaxis. There was also one other question where it was asked the commercial name of the only device for epinephrine auto-injection available in Portugal. Eight minutes were given to fulfil the questionnaire. 92 complete questionnaires were eligible for evaluation.
Results: In the three diagnostic questions we observed a percent of correct answers ranging from 36 to 46%. In the two questions regarding anaphylaxis therapy only 18 to 22% of the GPs gave the correct answers. Only 14% of the GPs were able to indicate the correct commercial name of the epinephrine auto-administration kit.
Conclusions: The results of this study stress the need to promote, within the GP community, continuous medical education programmes regarding adequate diagnosis and treatment of anaphylaxis. Wrong concepts related to anaphylaxis treatment are frequently observed and this is a serious problem since GPs are the front-line doctors in the management of out-patient anaphylactic reactions and therefore it is absolutely mandatory that they can be able not only to accurately diagnose and treat an acute anaphylactic episode but also to make a correct retrospective diagnosis and to advise on the use of epinephrine auto-injectors.