The RCH’s innovative Telehealth Sleep Study has allowed patients to be tested for obstructive sleep apnoea from the comfort of their own bed.
The Telehealth Sleep Study pilot program as devised to fill a gap in RCH services, the RCH does not have a formal sleep unit and could only provide limited ward-based service for complex respiratory and neurology patients. Children with obstructive sleep apnoea could not receive diagnostic sleep studies at the RCH and had to undergo tests at other facilities.
The Telehealth Sleep Study conducts sleep studies in the home; with support from a RCH Sleep Nurse via Telehealth, and the Hospital in the Home program. After a consultation at the hospital, patients and their parents travel home with the necessary equipment and connect with the sleep nurse via telehealth before bedtime. Once the study is underway, parents can contact a Sleep Nurse via telehealth at any time during the night.
Ninety six per cent of parents involved in the trial reported that the Telehealth Sleep Study was more convenient than in-lab studies, and provided a high level of care for their children.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate that children sleep better in their own beds,” Respiratory Physician Dr Mandie Griffiths said. “The sleep efficiency results that we recorded during the trial were excellent, with 71 percent of participants sleeping for eight to 10 hours.”
All participants slept for more than six hours, which is the minimum amount of time needed for a lab standard sleep study.
“At-home sleep studies reduce the anxiety that can be provoked by having a sleep study done in hospital. Patients still have to sleep with electrodes and equipment in the room, but they are in a familiar environment,” Dr Griffiths explained.
During the trial RCH clinicians collected parent feedback on the ease and accessibility of the study.
“At home is much less traumatic for the child” one parent commented.
“The procedure and equipment were well explained to the extent that the child herself knew what needed to be monitored,” another parent explained. “Doing the test at home is a bit intimidating for the parent but it’s much better for the child to be in their home environment. She slept pretty much as she would normally.”
Importantly, the RCH team was able to achieve a diagnosis in 87.5 per cent of cases.
“We are attaining high quality data, as well as making patients feel well-supported in their home to do this test,” Dr Griffiths said.
“We can use this trial to overcome some of the technical difficulties that are common to at-home studies, and allow children to sleep comfortably in their own beds. This can help avoid hospital admission and provide a huge benefit for patients and the RCH.”
This article originally appeared in the RCH 2013-4 Quality of Care report, find it here.