Objective:

Characterizing the role of an Allergy and Clinical Immunology (ACI) department in the evaluation of patients admitted to care in other specialties.

Methods:

Review of all inpatient collaboration requests to the ACI department between January 2018 and June 2019. Analysis of patients’ clinical and demographic data, causes of admission, aim of the collaboration request, evaluation and case management was performed.

Results:

We identified 177 collaboration requests, corresponding to 157 admissions of patients with an age range from 7 months to 89 years, 52% of which were women. The majority of the requests (83%) were due to suspected drug hypersensitivity reaction, followed by guidance on the treatment of allergic comorbidity and asthma exacerbations. These 177 requests resulted in 446 medical visits (average of 2.6 visits per admission). Drug hypersensitivity reaction was confirmed in 64%, with SCAR (severe cutaneous adverse reactions) in 19% and anaphylaxis in 6%. Mortality rate was 5.1%; 46.2% had a re-evaluation at the outpatient clinic.

Conclusions:

Allergy and Clinical Immunology specialists primarily work at the outpatient setting. However, they can have a very significant role in the management of hospitalized patients particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of uncommon and allergy related diseases.

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