Non-Medical professionals working in Sleep Disorder Labs as OJT's

[kurtzmobile]

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering if any of you have any experience working in a sleep disorder lab and if so, what are your opinions regarding non-medical professionals working in a sleep disorder lab? Even if you have never worked in a sleep disorder lab, I would like to hear what you have to say about this topic.

To give you a little Hx, I am an RN who has experience working on a cardiac/stepdown unit and have now been working in a sleep disorder lab for about 6 months. The lab that I work in only hires RN's and RT's b/c this is the standard of care in this particular state. I recently attended a sleep disorder conference in Denver and was educated to the fact that many sleep disorder centers hire people w/out medical degrees and give them on-the-job-training. In the sleep center the main condition that you see is Obstructive Sleep Apnea and these people require interventions of either CPAP or BIPAP. Many of these pts have underlying diagnoses and require an astute person to recognize Arrythmias, 02 therapy when appropriate, and appropriate titration of CPAP or BIPAP. I just don't think that it is a safe practice having non-medical professionals in a sleep disorder center. I'd like you to share your opinions good/bad/or otherwise.

Thank-You :)