{"id":8300,"date":"2024-04-05T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2024-04-05T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:30:00","slug":"re-evaluating-penicillin-allergies-in-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8300","title":{"rendered":"Re-evaluating penicillin allergies in Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-04-05T18:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been told you are allergic to penicillin? Maybe a childhood rash led a physician to annotate your medical records for years with a penicillin allergy label?<\/p>\n

That might not be accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our Veterans carry a penicillin allergy label that is outdated and possibly incorrect,\u201d said Dr. Reuben Arasaratnam, staff physician in infectious disease at Dallas VA<\/a>.\u201d Up to 15-percent of hospitalized VA inpatients carry this label, yet over 90-percent of these are found to be untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arasaratnam (pictured above) speaks from experience both as a physician and as an associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He shares a story that is not just about labels but about the lives they affect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember a Veteran who came in with an infection we knew penicillin could easily treat. But there it was on his chart\u2026 a childhood penicillin allergy that had followed him into adulthood, into his service and now into our hospital. It wasn\u2019t just a note in his file. It was a barrier between John and the best care we could give,\u201d Arasaratnam recalled.<\/p>\n

Avoiding penicillin-based treatment could impact patient care<\/h2>\n

This story of care postponed due to an unchallenged label is not unique. It\u2019s echoed in the halls of VA, in the lives of Veterans who may not need to avoid penicillin-based treatments. Arasaratnam and his team recognized the gravity of this and the impact it could have on patient care.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people still believe penicillin allergies are inherited when there is no family relatedness to penicillin allergy. Even if you did have a true penicillin allergy, studies show these allergies wane over time. After 10 years, 80% of these allergies will no longer be present after formal testing,\u201d Arasaratnam continued.<\/p>\n

Arasaratnam\u2019 s team at North Texas VA embarked on a program to reevaluate these penicillin allergies grounded in the belief that every Veteran deserves the best care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have allergy specialists in every facility, but we have committed physicians, pharmacists and clinical coordinators willing to step up. We\u2019ve been able to remove the penicillin allergy label for a third of the Veterans we\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arasaratnam\u2019 s narrative is intertwined with gratitude for his team at VA and partners at UT Southwestern. It takes a team of people who care enough to go the extra mile in making the collective effort that has made this program, possible.<\/p>\n

For Veterans, it\u2019s an invitation to reconsider what they know about their health and to trust in VA\u2019s commitment to providing cutting-edge medical technology. The resolving of long-held questions for those Veterans and using the best antibiotic therapies is changing Veteran\u2019s life stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis might not seem like a big deal\u2026 a childhood rash mislabeled as a penicillin allergy\u2026 but it can affect them in the long term. We\u2019re here to ensure they get the medications they need without unnecessary risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up to 15% of hospitalized Veterans have a penicillin allergy label, but over 90% are untrue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRe-evaluating penicillin allergies in Veterans - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Up to 15% of hospitalized Veterans have a penicillin allergy label, but over 90% are untrue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8300\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Re-evaluating penicillin allergies in Veterans - 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