Sleep Study Facilities - What's Typical?

From what I am reading here, I had the 4 star hotel treatment!
The facility had several rooms, each a different decor. A sleep number queen size bed, flat screen TV, private bathroom with shower. There were no clocks in the room and I was asked not to look at my watch. The bed was very comfortable and I had the opportunity to adjust it before I was wired up.

Mine was done 13 years ago while I was still in the hospital after the birth of my son.
it was 5 rooms in the basement of the hospital, 2 sleeping rooms on each side of the staff room.
none were even marked and you had to use a rest room down the hall.
but they told me each room was the same similarly set up as mine, basicly the same as the hospital rooms but quite a bit smaller as at this time they didnt have general private rooms except for ICU. But there was enough room in it to have the bed, bedside table, 1 chair and a small closet, the techs were friendly and explained everything pretty well.
The only really unplesant part was the putting on of the leads.I was only there a total of 4 hours or so it took them like half an hour before they put a mask on me and I slept for like 3 hours before waking up to go to the bathroom and they set me up with a machine and mask and one of the tech even took me back to my room and explained the set up of the machine. I then slept for like 10 hours straight which is quite a accomplishment in a hosptial!! Lol

Guest wrote:Mine was done at a sleep lab that was set up in an old hospital building that was turned into a community health center, so it was nice in that there were private rooms with private bathrooms/showers.

My sleep lab was also similar....it the basement of what is now the student health center. 3 bed rooms....they see two patients at a time...one of the rooms is the ADA room. Kind of an L shaped hallway....come in along one side of the space, far end away from the elevator. Pass the control room coming in. First room is straight across from the entrance...second room next door. The ADA room is off the end of the hallway and tucked behind the control room. Each room has its own bathroom (at least the two regular rooms do, didn't look at the ADA room.) Has a tiny TV/VCR combo with cable. There is only one tech, and the appointments are staggered so they can mostly be processed in and out individually. I showed up a little late, and the other guy was a little early...so it we overlapped a little bit, and he woke up on his own, so there was overlap on the outprocessing as well.

But, we never saw each other.... It was a hard, small bed...and a hard/lumpy pillow. So, I didn't feel like moving once I found a spot to remain fixed into on the bed. And, not just because of the wires. Normally, I have a Queen Select Number 5000 bed all to myself....single chamber....~40. And, a nice soft pillow suited for either sleeping on my stomach or my back. Though I have switched to a higher/firmer pillow (but not too high) so that I can turn my head and there's a chance my mask will stay on (also side sleep on occasion now).

I turned off my phones, because I didn't really want to worry about calls and such while I was there. I did have my watch by the bed, and I think I glanced at it a couple times during the night. But, otherwise, I had no expectation of getting any sleep and no worries about having to be up at any time in particular.

Because it was a poor TV, I didn't feel like watching TV and had nothing else to do...so I immediately set off to try to fall asleep once he was done hooking me up (played the informational video during the hook up process).

It was quite dark in the room, in fact I wasn't sure where the call button was (hard to make out the blurry blobs of light)...but it didn't matter, because the tech saw me wake up and asked if I needed anything before I had to go look for it. I did hear a train in the distance at one point during the night, but otherwise...it was a pretty uniform noise, so no distractions from sleep. I don't recall the kind of noise I heard during the second part of the split study....but it wasn't the distracting rhythmic sound that I hear now. At least I didn't hear any sirens going by...something I hear often at home.

The Dreamer.

My first two were in a doctor's office-type buidling. In front was the waiting room. Immediately behind were the normal exam rooms (just like any doctor exam rooms). Behind that was the large monitoring room with the computer equipment and branching off the monitoring room were 3 hallways. 2 hallways had 4 sleep study rooms each. The third hallway had other rooms they used for wiring us up before bed. The sleep rooms were simple and rather hospital-like. There were only 3 bathrooms/showers in the whole place.

My second sleep study was also in a setup behind a typical doctor's office. However, they had made efforts to make the rooms feel more hotel-like. It had a very comfortable feel; except for the bed which I recall being hard like plywood.

I have heard of an outfit that leases rooms from actual hotels for sleep studies. Patients get their own hotel room and have access to the hotel's facilites (swimming pool and breakfast in the AM). Here's a link - http://www.sleepwellpartners.com/ I don't know anything else about them. Anyone have experience with them?

Mine was done on an upper floor of the building where I go to the neuologists who's also my sleep specialist.

The room was like a nice hotel room, comfortable bed and pillows, a tv, private bathroom with shower a clock on the DVD player that did me no good as i couldn't read it without my glasses so the next 2 I had I took my watch.

The first and last people to take care of me were nice and friendly the 2nd one was kinda mean.

I believe I read that either Medicare or the sleep lab acccrediting association were no longer going to approve sleep studies in motel rooms.

Both of mine were in the same place, a wing of a hospital. This hospital was single story and didn't have an ER so there are actually very few people being treated there. Apparently, they have people in vegetative states and the sleep clinic. I didn't see anyone but people in the sleep clinic. Each room had a Sleep Number bed, a flat screen TV mounted on the wall with cable, a table to fill out paperwork and a private bathroom with a shower. They even had Bath and Body Works shower gels and shampoos for you to use. There was a closed circuit camera pointed at the bed and a speaker over the bed so you could talk to the techs. In the morning, they had a table with juice and muffins to take as you leave.

I have had sleep studies in 3 different facilites and they have run the gamut of all the experiences already related.

Ideally one could make that prior visit mentioned, but they need to know what to look for, as in comfort of the beds, accomodations if room temp isn't acceptable. etc. Those sensitive to sound don't want a room in the line of traffic to the bathroom or the tech room. Don't schedule at a facility close to a train track or emergency responder station. Tell the scheduler if you have special needs in a room, like close to a bathroom if you know you get up several times a night.

The night of the study, If sensitive to light - tell the tech to place a towel on the floor in front of the door when they exit.

In a thread a year or so ago it was discussed what level of credentialing is required vs recommended. I would love to see that info again if anyone remembers it. I din't know enough to check and was too compromised to have had the wherewithal to have done that in the earlier years anyhow.

Personally, I didn't care if places had a lot of amenities as I got there in time to hook up and was gone at wakeup. What I would ask if if their lab is doing any research studies that night. The protocol for those studies is so exact, if anything gets off schedule, you can believe it's the non research patient who will be shoved to the back burner. I had that misfortune, and called for the tech for 45 minutes to come unhook me.

Unfortunately, sometimes you just don't know if you've got a good sleep doctor or not unless you went there upon referral of a satisfied patient. I've been both unlucky and lucky. Reminds me of the old Kenny Rogers song, The Gambler... know when to walk away, know when to run.
Or maybe you'll get lucky. It happens.

All of mine have been in either 1 of 2 office type buildings. The first was a little seedy, very uncomfortable and very warm! The second, was a wing of the building that my sleep doc's office is in (the first was done at a request of my then GP the second and any thereafter I got done at the sleep doc's office). The sleep doc's office had a couple of bathrooms for about 8 sleep rooms. There were select comfort beds in the rooms, cable TV, recliners. All in all very nice rooms.

Both mine were in a 4 star hotel (Hampton Inn)in the town where our hospital is. I was free to come early and use the pool or just come in and get settled and watch a little TV and have the continental breakfast in the morning. The bed was queen with a lot of pillows, I had a big TV and DVD player, private shower/bathroom AND a clock. The room was really nice. I did keep my cellphone on the nightstand so I could see what time it was easier and no one said anything. I called my husband a couple of times and he called me and no=-one said anything.

They hooked me up and said I could watch TV if I wanted, just to holler when I was ready to go to sleep. I was a good thing too because Dancing With The Stars Finale was on that night, I HAD to watch that!
The room across the hall had all the computer and monitoring equipment, I had a speaker and of course a camera on me. I had a choice of a male or female Tech (I chose female) and she was there beginning to end.

It was really nice, not creepy at all (like I thought it would be) but I still didnt sleep and was a little scared. The sleep center had one wing of the Hotel and the doors were kept open a little and that was kind of unnerving but they assured me we were safe.

Coincidently, both my studies were done during really bad snowstorms and being able to drive in early while it was still light made a big difference. same thing in the morning. After they unhooked all the equipment at 5:30 AM they said I could go back to sleep or leave, whichever I wanted. I watched TV till it got light, then took off. The weather was pretty bad.

All in all it was as pleasant as they could have possibly made it.

By the way, in reference to visiting ahead of time, I think some of these places have websites where you can see what kind of setup they have, it wouldnt hurt to ask. Our hospital website has a link to the Sleep Center at Hampton Inn where they show the rooms etc.

My wife is quadriplegic from MS so I care for her all night (and day). Local hospital had two beds in room for sleep study. Nice setup. Anyway, I brought my wife and had study. When she needed help or bathroom, they had to come in and unhook me, etc. Happened several time that night. I wanted my sleep study to accurately reflect my real life.

Next time, I'm coming to NY for sure.

And I don't care what Meryl Haggard says.

I have only read the OP.

I've had 4 PSG's in 2 yrs. The facilities will vary widely so check before you go. If you don't like the layout find another sleep lab. Some labs have showers down the hall, the VA didn't even have showers. But they didn't try to screw me out of my money either.

My first two PSG's were done on back to back nites at a local Marriott. The beds were extremely comfy and rooms very nice but the techs were very noisy when going in & out of the rooms. My 1st was a split-nite study but I was asked to return because they recorded no supine sleep. Well the reason is because the tech never mentioned I should or need to sleep on my back, that's all. They were in fact the 2 worst nites of sleep I have ever had.

Then when almost a year later with different insurance I was told I needed another PSG because the lab had not recorded 120 minutes of diagnostic sleep, I requested the sleep lab provided this at no charge. When they refused I went to the VA. The VA accepted my PSG and issued me new and better equipment to the old prescription.

I was diagnosed by the 1st sleep lab with severe OSA w/62ahi. I simply could not see paying them while putting my body thru all those known events all over again. It seemed to me they were just a money mill. I thought they specialized in sleep disorders which is why I selected them originally. But I was rwong - there ARE a money mill.

The moral of the story is it is not only the creature comforts that matter but the service after. Keep in mind you can take your results to any doctor you so choose tho it will often cause many delays in getting the equipment. Even keeping it all in the sleep center it took 30 days to get my machine via UPS from Apria. No RT to help me set it up or ask questions, NOTHING.

I was just determined to make CPAP work and finding this forum was key to making it work for me.

If you are in CT I would highly recommended the Griffin Hospital sleep lab in Derby, CT. Besides having a great sleep doc and staff they offer breakfast (made to order) in their cafeteria. The staff and doc do business with most DME's thru out CT. This is the lab I will go to for my next PSG.

HTH,
GumbyCT