Stevens–Johnson syndrome Passport

A patient hospitalised with a severe allergic reaction carries a card that tells doctors exactly which drugs to avoid. Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a rare but life-threatening skin reaction, often triggered by common medicines such as antibiotics or anticonvulsants. Once a patient has had SJS, re-exposure to the same drug can trigger a more severe, sometimes fatal, episode. Currently, there is no standardised way to communicate a patient’s trigger drug across different hospitals or healthcare settings. This project will develop a “passport” — a physical or digital document that records the patient’s diagnosis and the specific drug that caused it. If successful, the passport would give emergency clinicians immediate, reliable information at the point of care, reducing the risk of accidental re-exposure. This is not fundamental science; it is a practical tool designed to plug a gap in patient safety. The passport could become part of routine discharge planning for SJS patients, and its design may later be adapted for other rare drug-induced conditions.