Sleep Tech Tip of The Week:

By Michael Miller, RPSGT

It does not matter whether you have been a medical professional for 30 days or 30 years, at some point you will or have encountered patients that possess what I like to call “strong personalities”.  Simply put, some of the people we come across not only professionally but also personally are not necessarily the most pleasant folks in the world to deal with. As sleep professionals, our occupational duties can be made more difficult when abrasive attitudes and noncompliance issues challenge the multifaceted job that we choose to perform.

Fortunately as sleep technologist we have the benefit of understanding the importance of how sleep or the lack thereof can affect an individual’s personality. A majority of our patients have not experienced an adequate night’s sleep in days, weeks, months, and even years. You don’t have to be a sleep tech to understand that sleep deprivation equals irritability. The unique nature of the test we perform can also invoke anxiety that may fuel any underlying behavioral issues plaguing the psyche of our patients.

A few suggestions to aid in patient care and dealing with challenging personalities are as follows:

•    Put yourself in their situation—apply your patients’ situation to your life, if you were experiencing the same circumstances how would you want to be treated?

•    Treat your patients as you would a family member—if you imagine your patient was your grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, or child it will increase the amount of tolerance and compassion that you apply when performing your duties.

•    Keep in the mind the vulnerability that accompanies undergoing a sleep study—we often overlook how stressful the unique experience and complexity of undergoing a sleep study can be. Our patients are trusting us with their safety and well being during the most defenseless state of their existence.

•    We chose our profession—although we perform elective procedures, our patients did not decide to acquire a sleep disorder, most likely they would rather be doing anything else that having wires attached to their bodies and being watched by a stranger while they sleep.

We should treat our patients/customers as our most valuable assets, especially with strict competition, economic challenges, healthcare reform, and declining reimbursement rates facing our profession. Combing a therapeutic approach with the analytical nature of our occupation is not only advantageous for us as healthcare professionals, but more importantly for our patients.

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Tags: difficult patient, insomnia, sleep cycle, sleep deprivation, sleep disorder, sleep disorders, sleep medicine