ASAA Develops Two New Patient Education Bulletins

Washington, DC, June 21, 2007—The American Sleep Apnea Association is preparing two new Patient Education Bulletins, “CPAP Use in a Hospital Setting” and a companion piece, “OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) Patients Rights and Responsibilities” to make available to patients and the general public.

The bulletins will contain guidelines for sleep apnea patients such as the right to be adequately treated for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, for patients to use their own masks and headgear, and own equipment set at their prescribed pressure, if the facility cannot provide an identical mask and equipment with similar functionality, and to have
humidification if required and there are no medical contraindications.

Patient responsibilities outlined will include notifying caregivers and physicians that the patient is being treated for OSA, to label personal equipment with their name and other identifying information, and to provide medical emergency personnel with notification that they are an OSA patient, either orally or through written documentation such as a wallet emergency information card or medical ID jewelry, among others. The ASAA has emergency cards and a simple apnea bracelet or necklace as part of the organization’s membership package.

A Hospital Checklist for OSA Patients will also be available in the new bulletin additions; highlights of this checklist point out the importances of policies regarding the use of the patients’ own CPAP equipment in hospitals, showing doctors and shift nurses, as well as family and friends who will be visiting, how to use such equipment, with the reinforcement the fact to them that if the patient is asleep, the CPAP needs to be in use, and if undergoing surgery, informing surgeon that they have sleep apnea and request a consultation with the anesthesiologist to discuss the OSA and how it will be managed.


A complete draft of the new bulletins can be viewed by visiting http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=10020 and more information on sleep apnea and additional bulletins can be found at www.sleepapnea.org.

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