The Mayo Clinic could be termed very picky and rigid – or very meticulous and conscientious.  Which it is depends on where you stand.  Consider an example.

A refrigerator failed one weekend in my primary care doctor’s office, and its internal temperature reached 60 degrees.  The office staff called a dozen allergists whose patients were getting allergy shots there, and whose custom-made serum was stored in that refrigerator. 

Most of the doctors said something like, “Thanks for the call, but don’t worry about it. Just keep it in a working refrigerator from now on and keep using it.”

My allergist at the Mayo Clinic was the only one to say something like,  “The people who manufacture the ingredients say that the serum must be kept refrigerated. It was 20 degrees warmer than it should have been, for as long as two or three days. If I let the serum continue to be used, who knows what might have started growing in it that would be injected into you that could make you very sick?  They have to throw out the serum, and we will have more made for you.”

This was wildly inconvenient, because it set my allergy shot program back by about six weeks and wasted about $300 in serum.  But the Mayo Clinic takes guidelines very seriously.  If something is supposed to be kept at refrigerator temperature, then it’s supposed to be kept at refrigerator temperature. Period.

Their rules for getting allergy shots are lengthy and detailed.  For example, you can’t get your shots if your arm is sunburned in the area where the injection will be given; the increased heat and circulation that result from sunburn would speed the absorption of the allergen and potentially create a larger and possibly dangerous reaction.

After the shots, you must wait 30 minutes so they can see if you are having too much of a reaction.  During that period, you may not chew gum or suck on hard candy, but you are welcome to bring a plate of food from the cafeteria.  Why?  If you went into anaphylactic shock (your throat started closing), and they saw that you had a plate of food, they’d instantly know that you were at risk of choking.  But they might not see that you had gum or hard candy in your mouth and so might not respond quickly enough if your throat started closing and you started choking on those items.  So you can’t have them.

Picky? You could say that.  I prefer to think of them as meticulous guardians of my health, and I follow every single one of their rules when I get allergy shots there, knowing that doing so cuts my risk for avoidable complications of care.