Assessment of medical students’ knowledge of anaphylaxis management

Introduction:
Anaphylaxis, a severe systemic hypersensitivity reaction, is a life-threatening condition that often occurs when there is no where there is no access to the hospital and qualified medical care.

Aim:
To assess medical students’ (MS) knowledge of anaphylaxis, principles of management and how they rate their skills in this area.

Material and methods:
An anonymous questionnaire created based on current guidelines was distributed via social media to students of the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw in 2022. The group included 252 MS from all years of study.

Results:
Eighty seven percent of MS correctly defined the term anaphylaxis and 75% know its symptoms. The vast majority (91%) identified the correct procedure and the first-choice drug (97%). Almost all (95%) MS were aware that in anaphylaxis there are no absolute contraindications to epinephrine. Although 98% of MS indicated the route of epinephrine administration, only 58% knew the correct dose. Only 12% of MS rated their ability to manage severe anaphylaxis well, 36% fairly well, 41% emphasized their lack of practice and 8% were afraid of making a mistake. Eighty percent of respondents thought they should have more practice.

Conclusions:
Most MS were aware of what anaphylaxis is and what the basic guidelines for management are. However, a large proportion of them did not feel confident in their abilities in this area, which indicated a lack of sufficient practice. Students expressed the need to develop crisis management skills as part of their coursework and to disseminate this knowledge in the community.