An audit of compliance with the british Committee for standards in haematology Guidelines on the investigation of Antiphospholipid syndrome
- Format
- MasterThesis
- Status
- publishedVersion
- Description
Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized mainly by thrombosis and pregnancy morbidity. The diagnosis of APS relies on the detection of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), namely Lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and anti-Beta2-Glycoprotein-I antibodies (anti-?2GP1) which are laboratory tests with certain limitations. The treatment of APS consists of long-term anticoagulation therapy and varies according to the clinical and immunological profile of the patient. In order to address the need for clear diagnostic criteria of APS, the British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH) published the most updated version of Guidelines on the investigation and management of APS. This study undertook an audit aiming to evaluate whether or not the clinicians from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and from primary care services across the region were requesting aPL tests according to the BCSH Guidelines. In the period March to August 2015, 2042 test requests for aPL testing were gathered. Of these, 648 were excluded because of duplicates, lack of aPL results and issues in the clinical information provided, leaving 1394 requests for this retrospective audit. A set of three standards based on BCSH guidelines were created to assess compliance. The audit reveals that only 42 per cent of requests had clinical details that were recognized as fully compliant with the guidelines. Less than one percent of the tests included all three aPL tests (LA+aCL+anti-?2GP1) recognized in the laboratory criteria. Moreover, approximately one third of the requests had follow up testing within the time interval recommended in the BCSH Guidelines. Overall, the adherence to the BCSH Guidelines by the clinicians needs to be improved. Consequently, this study recommends further investigation into the causes of noncompliance with aPL ordering practice, training options for health care staff and clearer definitions of pregnancy morbidity and thrombosis within the context of APS testing.
- Publication Year
- 2016
- Language
- eng
- Topic
- INMUNOLOG?A CL?NICA
AUDITORIA CL?NICA
COMIT? BRIT?NICO DE LOS EST?NDARES DE HEMATOLOG?A
S?NDROME ANTIFOSFOLIP?DICO
- Repository
- Repositorio SENESCYT
- Rights
- openAccess
- License
- openAccess