NURSES BURN OUT ON LONG SHIFTS!! Well surprise, surprise, surprise, and to quote one of my favorite malcontent Disney characters, Diego, ''I am not surprised, I am so not surprised, I think I am going to die from not surprise!'' This article under this headline laments the long 12-hour shifts nurses must work and how dissatisfied they become ...

I received a phone call the other day from a patient who wanted a new CPAP machine. His was 10-years-old and knew he needed a new one. I told him to talk to his primary care doctor. The patient called me back and said that his doctor sent him to a pulmonologist who he did not want to see. He asked if my medical director could follow him ...

There is a huge failure rate for CPAP therapy; some would even say it is as high as 50 percent. That number is being used by insurance companies, home sleep testing companies, and people who do not believe in sleep apnea to prove that we are testing too many people and spending too much money. But we're not. The failure rate results from our ...

I had an experience getting some prescriptions filled: The technician was working with me to get a discount card to work that I could not use at another pharmacy. It turned out that the other pharmacy just did not know to make a phone call required to activate the card. It cost them a customer. The extra 10 minutes this person ...

The other day I had to work part of a night shift with two of my technicians. We had a patient that may have needed a little extra care, and I felt that another person might help to run the study better. When I got home, I posted on Facebook how impressed I was with the technicians I worked with. They really understand that they're on the ...

Many sleep technicians don't know how insurance works. They don't understand what insurances cover and which insurances need authorizations before giving equipment or performing tests. To them, this is an issue just for the billing office and the scheduling desk. I have found that the more I understand about our field and the way we are paid, the ...

I've been involved in sleep for the past 10 years, and I can tell you that I still measure every patient's head when I do a setup. My setups take between 45 minutes and an hour. I have never really gotten much faster than that. I think it's because I really believe that if you take your time and measure and clean the sites well, you will get the ...

There are many arguments about when a good sleep study starts. But to me, a set up begins the minute we get the patient on the phone for a PSG. Many labs use a receptionist to make the calls to schedule the appointment. However, many of these people are not able to explain the test or answer some of the questions patients ask. If we do not start ...

Growing up, I was taught you always want to act like you run the business you work for. You want it to be successful, profitable, and have a great reputation. I always have taken that to heart. Yet now as I am getting close to another birthday, I wonder if this belief, which I have shared with my children, is truly worth some of the things I have ...