Allergist Job Description

An allergist is a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic disease, most of which is caused by outside irritants that trigger immune responses in the body. Although primary care physicians routinely deal with symptoms related to common allergic reactions, such as hay fever and contact dermatitis, the allergist is called upon most often to figure out the causes of reactions in which the allergen, or causative agent, is unknown.

Responsibilities

• Most allergists are also immunologists, meaning that they are responsible not only for figuring out what allergens may be causing your symptoms but also for developing a program of immunization designed to help resist those agents. The day-to-day duties of an allergist usually start with an interview of the patient to determine what allergens he may be exposing himself to on a regular basis. The next step is skin testing in which tiny patches of skin on the patient's arm are exposed to specific allergens to see what, if any, reaction they cause. Finally, when one or more allergens have been pinpointed as the causes of the patient's complaints, the allergist must develop a plan of treatment.

Workplace

• Most allergists work in private or group practice, routinely conducted in small to medium-size offices. A select few may operate within a large medical center, which offers a full range of medical services, including a number of medical specialties. Although allergists may be called into a hospital to consult on cases involving allergies, these medical specialists do not routinely spend much time in a hospital setting.

Education

• The educational requirements for becoming an allergist are extensive. Students who contemplate entering this field must begin their preparations early, an important element of which is maintaining very good grades throughout high school and the first four years of college as a pre-med student. The first step toward becoming an allergist is acquiring a medical degree, after which another two years or more of study in their field of specialization will be required. The final hurdle is gaining certification from the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.

Job Outlook

• The demand for medical doctors in general is expected to grow sharply for the foreseeable future. The Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts that the employment of physicians and surgeons would show an increase of 14 percent from 2006 through 2016. However, it is predicted that the demand for specialists, such as allergists, will show an even more robust growth rate. Of the 633,000 physicians and surgeons working in the United States in 2006, roughly 38 percent were specialists in fields other than internal medicine, general practice/family medicine, pediatrics, surgery, anesthesiology, psychiatry and obstetrics/gynecology.

Earnings

• The Medical Group Management Association tracks the average earnings of primary care physicians and specialists. The organization does not break out allergists as a specific subgroup of specialists but reported in 2008 that the median annual income of all medical specialists was $332,450. This included specialists at all levels of experience, so those who are just entering the field or who have limited on-the-job experience can expect to earn substantially less than the median figure.