Oct 6-12 Sleep Tech Appreciation Week !!

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:53 pm

Saw a poster at my pulmo's today: Oct 6-12, 2008 is Sleep Technologist Appreciation Week! Bake some cookies and drop a plate of goodies off for your friendly sleep tech to show your appreciation if you had a good one!

jnk · Post by **jnk** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:19 pm

Slinky,

Hope all went well at the pulmo.

I don't bake, but I certainly do appreciate the sleep tech I dealt with. In fact, he was so helpful that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he was a member of this forum!

jeff

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:24 pm

GOOD to hear you had a goodie, JNK. So send him a thank you card and a short note to let him know how you're doing.

jnk · Post by **jnk** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:46 pm

Yes ma'am.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:58 pm

If you don't bake, at least change the oil in the French Fryer, nothing beats fresh oil in the fryer, good old Lard! Jim

Brings back memories, I didn't know at the time I could have been in the Sleep field, I don't know how Car Hop training got me on the field of mechanics. Yes I do, it provided me the money for a car, but not enough to pay someone else to keep it running, that's why I learned mechanics. Maybe if I was in the Sleep Field, I could have had the patients buy me a better car.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:10 pm

When do they celebrate "Patient Awareness or Appreciation Week"?

When?

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:15 am

Ha! Ya gotta be yokin', Guest. We're just a piece of meat supplying the sleep docs' bread and butter! Ooops. Correction. We are supplying their dessert!

StillAnotherGuest · Post by **StillAnotherGuest** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:41 am

Slinky wrote:Ha! Ya gotta be yokin', Guest. We're just a piece of meat supplying the sleep docs' bread and butter! Ooops. Correction. We are supplying their dessert!

jnk · Post by **jnk** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:06 am

Hmmm. Note to self: See if I can get an appointment at sleep clinic for Oct 12. Might get free leftover homemade cookies, if tech-meisters are already full and were able to hide the extra ones from the sleep docs!!!!!

carbonman · Post by **carbonman** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:36 am

Slinky wrote:Saw a poster at my pulmo's today: Oct 6-12, 2008 is Sleep Technologist Appreciation Week! Bake some cookies and drop a plate of goodies off for your friendly sleep tech to show your appreciation if you had a good one!

Thanks for posting this.

I am going to get cookies, plates of goodies and take myself out to lunch everyday,
that week.....
because I am the best local, sleep technologist I know right now.
....and I'm doing a darn good job of taking care of my cpap therapy needs.

jnk · Post by **jnk** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:22 am

carbonman wrote: . . . take myself out to lunch . . . best local, sleep technologist . . . needs.

Carbonman,

I really like your point! In fact, I'm a little hungry right now and should take myself out for a treat at noon. (Boiled egg just didnt' do it for me this morning.)

I know some here have self-diagnosed from day one. But for most of us it took a knowledgeable and helpful polysomnography/titration tech to make sure PAP therapy was what would address our needs.

I assume that it isn't easy to apply a cookie-cutter (no pun intended--ok, yeah, all right, maybe just a little bit intended) protocol to individuals with unique symptoms and physiological reactions, and to do so night after night in a way that keeps patients and docs happy. I also think it must take a special type of person to be "tech-nerd" enough to effectively collect, interpret, and react to data moment by moment, and at the same time be "people-person" enough to be emotionally engaged and comforting to people with serious health problems who have been forced to enter into a strange environment for a sleep study. That combinations of talents, and especially the willingness of techs to consistently apply them to us, are things we should all be grateful for, IMO, if we were in any way benefited, in harmony with your very wise tagline about being grateful.

And every time I see your posts, I want to take up biking. Maybe then I wouldn't gain a pound every time I walked by a restaurant! On foot, it's too easy to walk in. I should be pedaling by!

jeff

carbonman · Post by **carbonman** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:55 am

jnk wrote:
carbonman wrote: . . . take myself out to lunch . . . best local, sleep technologist . . . needs.
Carbonman,

I know some here have self-diagnosed from day one. But for most of us it took a knowledgeable and helpful polysomnography/titration tech to make sure PAP therapy was what would address our needs.

Point well taken. I needed the same for a diagnosis
and to get the therapy going.
As the case w/many people here, without this group and the
knowledge I have gained from it, I would probably have had
to depend on the RT at Apria or actually see the sleep doc.
The RT at Apria would have been worthless. I don't know
about the sleep doc, because I never saw or heard from him.
I would probably have quit the therapy before it ever had
a chance to provide results.

I also think it must take a special type of person to be "tech-nerd" enough to effectively collect, interpret, and react to data moment by moment, and at the same time be "people-person" enough to be emotionally engaged and comforting to people with serious health problems who have been forced to enter into a strange environment for a sleep study. That combinations of talents, and especially the willingness of techs to consistently apply them to us, are things we should all be grateful for, IMO, if we were in any way benefited, in harmony with your very wise tagline about being grateful.

This is an interesting point, also. I have been a computer tech
for the past 25 years. I worked for sometime in a large hospital.
I enjoyed that work very much. I enjoyed working w/the nurses and
most of the docs and all the other techs. Most are dedicated professionals
that have the patients best interest at heart. I think w/the
knowledge and experience I have now w/cpap, I could be a very
effective sleep tech. Since I have been strapping on a mask everynight,
I wonder how someone who doesn't can possibly help someone who does.

And every time I see your posts, I want to take up biking. Maybe then I wouldn't gain a pound every time I walked by a restaurant! On foot, it's too easy to walk in. I should be pedaling by!

...and yes, get a bike. It will change your mind and body,
everytime you get on it.

Also, I went to your site and listened to your music.
Very nice! Reminded me of the line from Dire Strits?

..that's guitar George.....he knows all the chords.
jeff

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:55 am

Don't beat up on 'em too badly.......this website has CPAPTALK.COM listed in their "Links" section (right-hand side of page).

http://www.letstalksleep.blogspot.com/

I'm more inclined to wonder about the intelligence of the sleep "doctors" (from my own personal experience and what I've read here).

But, I also agree with this thought, too.

When do they celebrate "Patient Awareness or Appreciation Week"?

When?

Den

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:32 am

Hey! Just want you all to know it was the sleep DOCTORS and NOT the RPSGTs I mentioned being patients being dessert for!! My respect goes to the RPSGTs. The sleep docs??? That's another story. I wish they'd make use of the RPSGTs as some doctors do a PA or an NP.

Polysomo-man · Post by **Polysomo-man** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:03 am

have now w/cpap, I could be a very
effective sleep tech. Since I have been strapping on a mask everynight,
I wonder how someone who doesn't can possibly help someone who does.

I am a RPSGT who has been in sleep for 8 years, and have done over 3,500 sleep studies. I just wanted to mention that your thinking is flawed. That would be like telling a OB doctor who is a man that he can't deliver a baby since he never had one of his own. First you have to consider that there are just over 80 sleep disorders that a Polysomnography screens for during a study. While OSA is the most common sleep disorder we see, its not the only one.

The way I help a patient with OSA is by telling them the truth. I explain to them how CPAP can be difficult for 4-6 weeks typically, and tell them the side effects they can expect to encounter, and tell them all the positives of treatment. I have gotten fruit baskets, candy, letters, cards, pizza, and gift cards for my services. These are nice things to get, but ultimately I am in it to see people feel better. I follow up with my patients and get to know them very well. I am not required to do this, I do this because I want the best for people who decided to come see me at my lab. Being a sleep tech requires a certain art form that I think "jnk" did a good job of describing.

Oct 6-12 Sleep Tech Appreciation Week !!

Oct 6-12 Sleep Tech Appreciation Week !!

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