Breathing Easier: The Lifesaving Journey with Lung Specialist Dr. Mark J. Pamer
Apr 19, 2024Episode 8
Dr. Mark Pamer
What Are The Most Challenging And Rewarding Aspects Of Being A Pulmonologist?
Imagine feeling a breath of fresh air for the first time after years of suffocating coughs and relentless shortness of breath. That's the reality Dr. Mark J. Pamer, a dedicated lung specialist from Port St. Lucie, crafts for his patients every day, and we're thrilled to have him share these transformative moments on our podcast. Joined by our spirited co-host and producer, Garfield, we uncover the inspirational tales of individuals reclaiming their lives from the clutches of respiratory ailments. Dr. Pamer's anecdotes range from enabling wheelchair-bound patients to stand up and mow their lawns again, to curing persistent coughs that have ostracized individuals from the simplest of social activities. His passion for medicine and devotion to his patients' well-being is nothing short of heartwarming.
Yet, it's not all deep breaths and clear skies in the field of pulmonology. In a candid revelation of the occupation's emotional toll, Dr. Pamer opens up about the challenges he faces, from the heartache of patient suffering to the frustrating tangles of electronic medical records and insurance bureaucracies. But it's in these very struggles that Dr. Pamer's resolve is most apparent, especially when dealing with the stark realities of severe lung disease and the delicate nature of end-of-life care conversations. Our dialogue with Dr. Pamer not only shines a light on the rewarding outcomes that drive his mission but also provides a raw look at the perseverance required to navigate the complex world of modern healthcare.
What Are The Most Challenging And Rewarding Aspects Of Being A Pulmonologist?
Imagine feeling a breath of fresh air for the first time after years of suffocating coughs and relentless shortness of breath. That's the reality Dr. Mark J. Pamer, a dedicated lung specialist from Port St. Lucie, crafts for his patients every day, and we're thrilled to have him share these transformative moments on our podcast. Joined by our spirited co-host and producer, Garfield, we uncover the inspirational tales of individuals reclaiming their lives from the clutches of respiratory ailments. Dr. Pamer's anecdotes range from enabling wheelchair-bound patients to stand up and mow their lawns again, to curing persistent coughs that have ostracized individuals from the simplest of social activities. His passion for medicine and devotion to his patients' well-being is nothing short of heartwarming.
Yet, it's not all deep breaths and clear skies in the field of pulmonology. In a candid revelation of the occupation's emotional toll, Dr. Pamer opens up about the challenges he faces, from the heartache of patient suffering to the frustrating tangles of electronic medical records and insurance bureaucracies. But it's in these very struggles that Dr. Pamer's resolve is most apparent, especially when dealing with the stark realities of severe lung disease and the delicate nature of end-of-life care conversations. Our dialogue with Dr. Pamer not only shines a light on the rewarding outcomes that drive his mission but also provides a raw look at the perseverance required to navigate the complex world of modern healthcare.
Dr. Mark J. Pamer DO 573 NW Lake Whitney Place, Suite 105 Port Saint Lucie, FL 34986 (772) 785-5864
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Dr Mark J Pamer podcast, a doctor who uses his heart to treat your lungs. Here's your host, Dr Mark J Pamer.
Speaker 2:
Join us as we sit down with one of the Port St Lucie's top lung doctors to discuss the high and low in the field of lung health. And Lou in the field of lung health. Welcome back everyone. Garfield-born co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Dr Mark Pamer. Dr Pamer, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:
I'm great Garfield. We're ready to educate some people over here.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so, dr Pamer, what is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of being a lung doctor?
Speaker 3:
and rewarding aspect of being a lung doctor man, let's do rewarding. The most rewarding part of my job, which I see several times a week, is helping someone. I mean I'm channeling from above the almighty a lot of education. I mean, it's not me, you know. Taking that education, figuring out what a person's got and getting rid of those symptoms that have been debilitating for a person so that they can rejoin functional life, that's awesome and that's what gets me out of bed in the morning For somebody whose life has been dysfunctional or ruined by shortness of breath. They can't leave the house, they can't even get to their mailbox, and now they can. Or they're walking around and they're unlimited. Or people come into my office and they're in a wheelchair or a scooter. They can't walk. And then they come in and they're in a walker after that, after what we've been doing, or they walk in without a walker, they're wheelchair bound, and then you know we get them on the right medicines. The next thing I know they're mowing their lawn. That's something they couldn't even conceive of before. That is awesome.
Speaker 3:
I saw a woman this week who wouldn't leave her house. She couldn't go to the movies, she wouldn't go to restaurants because her cough was so bad and she had a very particular type of cough and she'd failed everything. She'd been to multiple doctors and I knew exactly what she had. You just had to get the right history and I put her on right medicine and she took it for one week and her cough was gone, never came back and she cried to me this week about how it had changed her life and got a big hug. And it's amazing to have that experience, because it's just amazing to have helped somebody. She can go to the movies now or go to dinner things you and I would absolutely take for granted, never think twice about it and here it's now for her. It's so special. So I love that.
Speaker 3:
People who have been told they have asthma and their life is so debilitated by it and now they don't. Or it's perfectly controlled or they were misdiagnosed. They were told they had asthma but they really had vocal cord dysfunction and again it was just an extra one or two questions and listening to what they said and getting them to the right speech therapist. And now they don't, now they're perfectly controlled and they're're out there and they're not coughing, they're not short of breath, and I just love that the ability to help people live their lives functionally and that is so rewarding and it keeps me going. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 3:
In converse, the difficult part of the job, there's a human element to it of seeing people suffer, which is hard, and there's the frustrating element of it of the electronic medical record and the way that it takes from the human relationship and in the insurance company, especially these Medicare Advantage plans, which are frustrating. But on the human side, there are people whose lung disease is so terrible that they're short of breath no matter what, and they're so miserable and there's so little to do for them, or their symptoms are so advanced and you've tried everything and they're still suffering and you've just done everything and the fact is there's no lung left and no matter what they do, they're going to be really short of breath. And then you know, then it's a, it's one of those hospice discussions and you just, you just wish you could wave a magic wand and make it all go away. But that that's not reality and that that's frustrating. It's frustrating that um and this is true for all physicians at this point we all are complaining about the same thing that when we used to go to the doctor, the doctor sat there and we spoke to him or her and they jiggled some notes and it was an efficient process and out they went and we were out of there in 15, 20 minutes.
Speaker 3:
But those days are long gone. Now we're sitting there typing stuff in the computer and clicking boxes and boxes and boxes and the people designing these systems, they have no clinical experience. These systems are designed for billing, so the companies can grab 4% of our revenue and they don't really care about the software and it just takes away from the patient experience. And it takes so long to see people now that it's become laborious and we're seeing fewer people and I think the frustration factor is higher for each person being seen. People are burning out. My colleagues are burning out. I'm burned out on the electronic medical record, although I love seeing people.
Speaker 3:
That part is really frustrating.
Speaker 3:
That's not just for me as a pulmonologist, that's for all physicians at this point.
Speaker 3:
And then, finally, this growth of the Medicare Advantage plan, which people are signing up for thinking it's the cheaper option, and sometimes it is the cheaper option immediately, but it may not be the cheaper option overall, because all of the health care costs are passed on to them Now they end up with higher co-pays and more costs for everything. Everything's more expensive, the benefits are fewer and now they can't afford a number of things that they could have gotten previously. And so here they may have terrible lung disease and they can't even afford the therapy that they need now because of the insurance company, or the insurance company is just automatically denying things and we're jumping through hoops and hoops and hoops to get people technology that they need, and these advantage plans are just denying it. And it's so frustrating because you know what the person needs and yet a foreign entity is denying it for the sake of denying it. That's the frustrating part the human part of watching people suffer and the technical part of being denied the ability to help people who are suffering.
Speaker 2:
Dr Payne, I can hear from your voice that you really care. You know we thank God for doctors like you, and the community of Port St Lucie is happy to have you. Listen, you have a wonderful rest of the day. We'll see you in the next episode. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Dr Mark J Paymer podcast. To learn more about the doctor who uses his heart to treat your lungs, go to markpamerdocom or call 772-785-5864. Once again, that's 772-785-5864.