Welcome to Allergy & Clinical Immunology!
Thank you for choosing us to be a part of your health care team. If you haven’t had the chance to fill out our New patient packet, please arrive to your appointment at least 15 minutes early. Be sure to bring a photo ID (such as a driver’s license) and your insurance card. You will be asked to provide some medical information such as your chief concern, medical and surgical history, current medication, medications you have tried in the past and medication allergies.
Once this documentation has been completed and reviewed by our staff, a medical assistant or nurse will check you in to an exam room and take your vital signs.
The physician will take a detailed history with you and then perform a physical exam that generally consists of listening to your heart and lungs with a stethoscope and looking into your ears, nose, throat and eyes with an otoscope, inspecting your skin and possibly evaluating other parts of your body depending upon your medical conditions.
The physician may order tests at this point such as a PFT (spirometry or breathing test), NIOX, scratch testing, patch testing, blood work or a biopsy.
Sometimes multiple appointments are necessary to accomplish all the testing that is recommended. For safety reasons and because some insurance companies limit the number of items that can be tested in a 24 hour period, we limit our testing panels to approximately 60 items per appointment.
Spirometry, or PFT (pulmonary function test), is used to assess your airway and requires breathing into special device connected to a computer. Spirometry is usually ordered if you have a history of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma, or an airway disease. Some of these procedures, such as scratch testing or patch testing may not be performed on your initial visit due to insurance or your medical condition, and you may be scheduled for another appointment to have these procedures.
To make the very most of your visit, it is important that you refrain from taking any antihistamine medications for approximately 1 week before your appointment, as these medications can interfere with allergy scratch testing. Some common antihistamines are Allegra (fexofenadine), Claritin (loratadine), Zyrtec (ceterizine), Benadryl (diphenhydramine), and over the counter medications that contain “allergy medicine”, such as some cold and cough syrups or medicines that advertise as “pm” medications. If you have trouble staying off antihistamines, or another doctor, hospital or urgent care has prescribed them for you, then please continue to take them until your appointment at which time the doctor may prescribe a different kind of medication that will not affect the scratch testing results. If you are uncertain about your medications, please call our office.
Your initial office visit will generally take approximately 1-2 hours. This may vary depending upon your past medical history, chief concerns, procedures performed, and recommendations by our physician. During your appointment, your physician will work with you to develop a treatment plan that best suits you and your concerns. You will be provided with a “Clinical Visit Summary” through our patient portal that will detail our evaluation of your condition and include your diagnosis, medications prescribed, and other recommendations.
Allergy & Clinical Immunology Medical Group looks forward to seeing you for your initial office visit and to make your experience a pleasant and informative one. If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment, we kindly request that you contact the office at your earliest convince so we can reschedule for a time more convenient for you. There may be a fee for missed appointments (No Call/No Show fees), and this can be avoided with a quick phone call to our staff.
We have parking under our building off of 20th Street however we do not validate. There is metered street parking available off of Arizona Ave.
