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Endocrine Abstracts (2018) 56 P60 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.56.P60

ECE2018 Poster Presentations: Adrenal and Neuroendocrine Tumours Adrenal cortex (to include Cushing's) (70 abstracts)

Expert patients are better prepared to survive adrenal crisis than most – but still lack training in injection method

Katherine White 1 & Phillip Yeoh 2


1Addisons Disease Self Help, London, UK; 2The London Clinic, London, UK.


We examined online questionnaire responses received Dec 2017 – Jan 2018 from a sample of well-informed adrenal patients belonging to the Addison’s Disease Self-Help Group (N=374). ADSHG members reported levels of preparedness to self-manage during adrenal emergencies that were strikingly higher than any UK clinic survey.

• 88% reported wearing medical jewellery

• 80% had an in-date injection kit with them at the time of their most recent adrenal emergency

• 74% carried an ADSHG emergency steroid alert card

Familiarity with injection method was disappointingly low even in this “expert patient” cohort.

• 40% had viewed the ADSHG’s online injection demonstration videos

• 36% had received 1- 1 injection training from an endocrine nurse

• 22% had received 1-1 injection training from a GP or practice nurse

• 15% had practiced injection method at an ADSHG group meeting

Educational materials launched by ADSHG since its previous member survey in 2013 appear to have made only a modest, positive contribution to patient competence in injection method (Table 1). These findings emphasize that endocrine units could do more to address patient safety. Ensuring all steroid-dependent patients are well-equipped and trained in how to survive adrenal crisis requires more systematic attention and resourcing across all clinics.

Table 1
Who gave injected hydrocortisone for most recent adrenal emergency2013 N=3002017 N=160P value
Myself or family member 36%46%P=0.022
Pre-hospital or hospital clinician59%50%P=0.027

Volume 56

20th European Congress of Endocrinology

Barcelona, Spain
19 May 2018 - 22 May 2018

European Society of Endocrinology 

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