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The St. Bernards Sleep Disorders Center has received five-year accreditation from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).
The first sleep disorders center in Northeast Arkansas to earn accreditation, the St. Bernards Sleep Disorders Center was established about 25 years ago and performs studies that detect issues ranging from sleep apnea and insomnia to restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy.
The AASM has served as the national accrediting body for sleep disorders centers since 1975. It identifies sleep medicine providers who offer the highest quality of medical care for people with sleep problems.
Accreditation is the gold standard by which the medical community and the public can evaluate sleep medicine services because it ensures that sleep medicine providers display and maintain proficiency in areas such as testing procedures and policies, patient safety and follow-up and physician and staff training.
St. Bernards was notified of its accreditation following a process that included a site visit by a board certified sleep specialist.
The AASM has developed standards for accreditation to promote excellence in the provision of medical care for sleep disorders patients.
The St. Bernards Sleep Disorders Center has helped thousands of area residents find out how much better life is when they get a good night’s rest every night, says Jo Yawn, director of St. Bernards Neurodiagnostics and the Sleep Disorders Center. It has sleep technologists with more than 75 years of collective experience in the field. Dr. Jeffery Cohen, Clopton Clinic pulmonologist and board certified sleep specialist who is on the medical staff at St. Bernards, serves as medical director of the center.
Patients are accepted by physician referral. But what often gets the ball rolling for sleep studies is a spouse who recognizes all is not well at night. Each patient meets with Cohen or one of the other specially trained sleep physicians to determine whether a sleep study could be helpful. When appropriate, an overnight study is scheduled at the patient’s convenience. While the patient sleeps in one of eight comfortably appointed private sleep lab bedrooms, the specially trained staff uses the latest technology to monitor sleep patterns, brain waves, heart rate, rapid eye movements and more. The patient goes home the next morning. After the sleep physician reviews the data, a treatment study can be scheduled. The patient receives a report via mail, along with a prescription for a sleep aid that can be secured from any number of local durable medical equipment suppliers.
Additional information on the Sleep Disorders Center may be secured by contacting the center at 973-4576 or by calling the St. Bernards HealthLine at 931-5055 or toll free at 888-782-4555.
St. Bernards is a 438-bed not-for-profit acute care hospital that has been providing comprehensive services to meet healthcare needs in this region since 1900.