Sample Food Allergy Guideline

Today’s post is the second in a series of sample clinical guidelines.  All of these sample guidelines will be placed under the “Guidelines” tab (above) as they are published. I view these sample guidelines as a group effort!  If you have a suggestion, critique or simply a better way to phrase some concept, say so in comments.

I wrote about food allergies previously on JailMedicine in “Food Allergies: Sorting Out Truth from Fiction” (found here). Since then, I have had more email requests for a Food Allergy guideline than all other sample guidelines put together.  It is clearly a BIG issue in corrections. Continue reading

Food Allergies: Sorting out Truth From Fiction

In my previous incarnation as an emergency physician (before I discovered “The Way” of correctional medicine), I saw a lot of cases of acute allergic reactions. It is a very common emergency complaint; I have probably seen hundreds in my career. But when I began my jail medicine career, I was still unprepared for the sheer volume of food allergies claimed by inmates. Who knew so many inmates had so many food allergies?

Of course, most of them don’t. Most just don’t want to eat something on the jail menu. Inmates believe that if they claim an allergy to a food they dislike, you cannot serve it to them. They will claim allergies to tomatoes, onions, mayo, etc., when really, they just don’t like these foods. Tuna casserole doesn’t seem very popular, for some reason. Continue reading