Interviewed with Allergy Doctor today

[iwanna]

I had an interview with an allergy dr. today. The dr. made it sound like it was quite easy. In fact, he did say that it was an easy job. I wish that I could have interviewed with the nurse as well. He only has one nurse. That would be my only fear, just being solo.(Although, I didn't express any fear) He said that he called his current nurse in, after he had some incomptent nurses there. She is leaving and he needs a new nurse. I believe that I will have to do venipuncure as well. That is something that I'm not too swift with. If someone has good veins, then I am okay. He did not mention venipuncture, just intradermal injections. But, he did mention that initially he does the blood test. I wish that I would have asked, if he actually does them or would I? Then I wonder what made the other girls incompetent. I have no doubts about my injections.

I do get distracted easily and would worry about making the vials. He told me that if I did not have time tomake the vials due to being too busy, then I could go in another and mix them. How difficult is it to mixing the vials?

This job is lower paying, but that is okay because I am receiving disability as well. And, the hours are good for me. I really prefer PT now. Two-three days sound good for me now. The dr. seems to be pretty laid back. But, I am still wondering about the incompetent comment. I wonder why the girls were considered that. Perhaps, I should have asked him, what would make me incompetent?

[Ayvah, RN]

While each doc is different, I highly doubt the doc would be doing the blood draws for the allergy tests. Skin testing is more accurate than going by the blood results so you shouldn't be drawing blood on each person who comes through.

To mix vials you just go by a formula, for example, 1 cc from this vial of cat into a 9 cc vial of saline. The formulas are almost always the same pattern so its easy, you just follow the directions. The danger lies in letting your mind wander when doing it and making a mistake, for a mistake with that can have anaphylaxis consequences, especially in multi-user vials. You need to guard against doing that, such as double checking yourself and ensuring that the fluid in the 1cc cat + 9cc saline = the same fluid height as in a 10cc vial. You need to be organized when doing this, and have only the two vials in front of you at a time so that you don't accidentally wonder if you pulled from another vial instead of cat.

Depending on how aggressive the immunotherapy program is you may be dealing with reactions a lot or not much at all. Its important to evaluate each person for safety before giving them their shot.

Yes, I agree with the concern about being solo. A doc should ALWAYS be around if you are doing immunotherapy because the risk for anaphylaxis is very real. The great thing though is that if the program is set up safely, your patients will wait there 30 minutes after their shot, and you will have enough time to monitor them and act immediately if they begin to show the slightest signs they are deteriorating, such as coughing. Almost all of the time you should be able to head off a full blown anaphylaxis before it gets bad.

Concerning the incompetent comment it could stem from so many different things. It could be the doc just being a jerk, it could be that the nurse was not taking mixing seriously and caused a patient harm, it could be that the nurse was not taking proper interventions when it came to anaphylaxis, or that the nurse was not assessing the patients before they got their shots for safety, or it could be many other things.

If you do get offered the job, or are just curious, PM me and I can go into much greater detail about what allergy entails. I've known allergy as a patient at multiple clinics, as well as from a nurse perspective.