This "... Which brings up another subject of poor education from pulmonologist who do not understand, have the time, nor care to educate their patients..." is why I feel like forums like Mayo Connect are so vital to our health!

Here is something to consider - doctors are not, nor have ever been, primarily "health educators." Their job has been to treat each patient and move on. In years past, it was up to each doctor's staff to provide patient education.

Remember the days when every doc had one or more nurses, who came in after the doctor and gave injections, demonstrated wound care, told you when to come back or what to do if a medication didn't work, showed you how to use a nebulizer, and gave you a list of foods when the doctor told you to change your diet?

My old pulmonologist was the last one I knew who had his own nurse, and she retired when he did 5 years ago. The new doc shares a respiratory therapist with pulmonologists in 2 other clinics - she is there once a week. And she has a trained medical tech to do breathing tests (and everything else.) The doctor gets 40 minutes to see and document a new or complex patient, 20 minutes for revisits.

If you are fortunate enough to be part of a large clinical practice that has specialists on staff, yay! But most people are not. I am lucky my organization has a coordinated pulmonology/sleep health/allergy/speech/ENT department with a consulting ID doc. Together they are working on locating and/or creating educational brochures, videos and classes to supplement what they can do in the clinic.

Please join us in using, supporting and promoting Mayo Connect, National Jewish Health, NTMir.org, and others providing the information we need to stay healthy!