Is polysomnography a good career?

[Guyfromthetri]

I'm interested in becoming a RPSGT (Sleep tech). I'm just wondering if this still a good career choice? What is the job market like? Are you satisfied with your pay? Does it pay well? A Step? Caahep? A.A.S? Other?

Any working sleep techs care to chime in?

[Pugsy]

This isn't a sleep tech forum. We used to have a couple of sleep techs hanging around but they haven't been active here for quite some time.

There is a real sleep tech forum but I have forgotten what it was called or where it is.

[Biomed_ZZZ]

This is my observation from working in a hospital for a long time as a Biomedical Tech (I repair medical equipment). Hospital staff tend to stay at their jobs forever especially if the hospital treats them correctly. I just had a sleep test done and it was an at home test as the hospital couldn't justify to the insurance company to have me come into the lab to have it done. My records from 20 years ago at the same lab was non existent so they have no clue on how bad I was from that time so this is not an updated study. It used to be that, at least at the lab that I went to years ago, had a tech on staff at night 5 or 6 days a week. They did mostly night studies and occasionally a daytime study that was handled by the daytime staff who was at the time the Director of the program (this is for the hospital I was working at years ago). Some hospitals are going through a tough time these days trying to eek out as much as they can to just survive. If you live in an area that has a few hospitals they may all have sleep labs, I know of at least 3 hospitals in my immediate area that has one. They may outsource the testing or they may dissolve the lab if it doesn't bring in enough money. They may cluster sleep studies together (the lab at the last hospital I was working at looked to have 5 labs ready for sleep tests and they only were manned by 1 sleep tech. What I am getting out is that certain aspects of healthcare is shrinking either due to the lack of need, lack of insurance authorization, the overabundance of places and technology that is in place today - could also be a combination of many factors. I think the sleep lab is one of those aspects in healthcare that technology has made the need for people in that field a shrinking career ... I believe 20 years ago it was booming. Just my opinion.

[Janknitz]

It's very expensive to run a sleep clinic. I think that they will eventually be used only for more complex cases, and "run of the mill" apnea will be evaluated and titrated with technology in the user's home. That trend is already well under way. So I'm not sure how good the job security is. But you might try looking for the sleep tech forum and asking them.

Also check with your library. I know there are resources that show trends in various careers and project into the future. Can't remember what you need to look for, but a librarian will know.