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Avoid These Sleep Testing Pitfalls

Avoid These Sleep Testing Pitfalls

By Ryan Javanbakht for the November 2018 DSM Insider

You dedicate time and effort to educate your at-risk patients about sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and then refer them for a sleep test, but too often – patients don’t actually get tested.

Consider this study published in Primary Care, June 2018:

1052 patients, 56% were estimated to be at high risk for sleep apnea, but only 8% underwent testing, and 94% of those tested were diagnosed with OSA.

Conclusion: “Many high-risk individuals are rarely tested.”

What can you do to ensure the patients that need tests actually get tested? Below are some of the most common pitfalls and surefire ways to avoid them…

Pitfall #1 The Black Hole

The “Black Hole” occurs when you get your patient to own their condition, you order a test, and ABRACADABRA!, they disappear. The worst part is they are left to suffer with their condition

Solution: Avoid The Black Hole!

Build a relationship with a trusted sleep testing partner that provides fast and efficient patient status notifications and communications. Work with them and create a mutual understanding of what your patient’s expectations should be.

Pitfall #2 Fear of the Unknown

Before you screened your patient, educated them about SDB, and ordered a test, most of them were unfamiliar with the disease and its potential negative effects on their health and quality of life.  If they leave with a referral for a test but without sufficient education and support, they may avoid the sleep test. This is due to uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

Solution: Create Clarity & Set Expectations!

Overcoming fear of the unknown is a collaborative responsibility between your practice and the sleep test provider. You can start by influencing your patients’ perceptions early. Share the recent ADA Statement with them that encourages dentists to screen patients for SDB. Set your patients’ expectation that all patients with signs of airway obstruction will be screened. Upon your referral, walk the patient through your sleep testing model from A-Z.

Then, rely on your sleep testing partner to follow through with what you’ve promised your patient. Your partner is responsible for upholding your reputation, so choose one that will deliver what you’ve promised. You expect high standards and performance in your practice, and the same should come from you sleep test partner.

Pitfall #3 It Takes Too Long

People want instant gratification. We order office supplies online that are delivered the next day and lunch delivered in less than an hour. Many sleep testing models require patients to take time out of their day, being referred from one office to the next, and it could be months before their sleep is evaluated.

Solution: Streamline the Process!

With a trusted sleep test partner, your patient could have a sleep test delivered to their home in 2 days, with results delivered just a few days later. Therapy could begin within a few weeks from referral!

Pitfalls can be avoided! You have options that supply what your patients want and need. Coordinate with a trusted sleep testing partner that shares the same commitment to your patients and your practice.

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