Allergy & Immunology Docs

[bigfrank]

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Hi everyone,

I'm still exploring my options and I wanted all of your thoughts on this fellowship of IM: Allergy & Immunology. I have always been one of those guys that is allergic to "everything" and, consequently, made several trips to the Allergy doc as a child. It seems like a very cool field and I always have been fond of the immune system's complexities.

That said, can people comment on this field's job outlook, lifestyle, salary, competiveness, etc.?

I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Best wishes, bigfrank.

 

[bigfrank]

Bump...

 

[wake up sir your surgery is over]

big frank,

all I will say is to keep quiet about allergy. it is in your and my best interest. It is getting more competitive by the day as all of the vultures going into medicine for hours and lifestyle realize that allergy is da bomb. keep it quiet. good info about salary is available on line. do a yahoo search and you will see the light.

 

[Mystique]

bigfrank,
I don't know much about outlook and competitiveness regarding Allergy and Immunology, but I can cast some light on lifestyle and salary. Unlike other professions, if you opt to go into private practice in A&I, your hours are pretty much 8-5 (or whatever you choose). You rarely get calls outside of office hours. A&I is very conducive to family life. Your weekends are yours to enjoy. After close observation, I would say it's a low stress specialty. Also, malpractice premiums are relatively low for this specialty. The practicing allergists in my neck of the woods do fairly well...they make in the $600K+ range. But, we both know this will depend on where you decide to practice. 🙂

 

[gasdoc]

A&I is called the "derm of medicine"...there is a reason for that...they basically have the same lifestyle. If anything, A&I is also a lot cleaner. I did 3rd after clinics w/ the allergist and the only 3 diagnoses were allergic rhinitis, asthma, and someting else. The AR's were not hard...they just prescribe Allegra, claritin or zyrtec and a nasal steroid inhaler. I blows me away that the primary care doc needs to refer that. But, I guess the referral is really for the skin tests...they do a panel (by the nurse) and just look at the results. From what I hear in private practice, allergists charge $10x20 skin tests = $$$. And the great thing is the nurses do most of the work. As for the asthma, its not rocket science. They pretty much follow the same asthma protocol/guideline, that every competent medical student would be able to. Again, it blows my mind at some of the weak asthma referrals. Their job is EASY and lucrative in the right market. No hassle dealing w/ CHF, DM, HTN, etc. etc.

As for job outlook, I think in the past, it has not been very competitive. But, now everyone is out of lifestyle and I bet A&I will become very competitive. However, that being said, I don't know about the future demands of the specialty. I know that AR and asthma is going out of control in this country though b/c of environmental pollution. Overall, the danger w/ the specialty is that their common diagnoses like AR and asthma can be easily managed by a pmd in this cost conscious medical environment. Also, I bet the job market is pretty saturated in urban areas. Perhaps some of you who are actively seeking it out can fill me in. But, overall though, I would go for A&I if I was an internal med resident any day.