The College’s Infectious Diseases and International Travel Committee, chaired by Kathryn Convers, MD, FACAAI, has been working on a retrospective study on inflight allergic and respiratory emergencies.
The project came about when Dr. Convers and her Committee started looking into airline policies that help protect and aid travelers with allergies, particularly those pertaining to the availability and administration of epinephrine. The Committee found that the policies varied greatly from one airline to another. They turned their focus to the occurrence of allergy-related inflight emergencies and how they were handled using data supplied by a ground based medical consultation service for the time period between January 2017 and December 2019.
“Our interest was to understand the incidence and circumstances surrounding the use of epinephrine for in-flight emergency care,” said Sangeetha Kodoth, MD, FACAAI, the Committee’s vice chair and lead on the project. “While we only studied a relatively small sample of cases, we hope the results of our analysis will help inform recommendations for improving access to this life saving medication, as well as specific guidelines for travelers with allergic and respiratory conditions.”
Once their findings are finalized, the Committee will develop specific guidelines for travelers that will be posted on the College’s public and member websites.
Do you have a committee project idea of your own? The College is always looking to its committees for new ideas for projects that can be of benefit to our members and their patients. If you have a project idea for your committee, be sure to talk to your chair to make sure it’s being considered. Remember, if it would benefit you and your practice, then it could be worthwhile for other practicing allergists.
