truckerdave1970 wrote:burchab1 wrote:i work in a lab that does 3:1 for adults and if we have children it is 2:1. It really is not bad. I do 3 patients alone along with scoring them. Not to mention if you have 3 patients scheduled you are way less likely to be called off or have to leave when your patients do not show up. In today's environment sleep labs need to do what they can to stay profitable. Years ago we had to go to scoring on the go at night and eliminate the daytime scoring techs in most places. 3:1 ratio's have been around for years now. As I have said in other posts, if you don't want to run 3 patient's, don't work there. For me, I need the job and to be honest, I have not seen any issues. Oh and by the way, I have run 4:1. As long as your patient's are not very ill, there is no problems.
If you can find a good 2:1 lab that doesn't score on the fly, jump on it.
and that's why sleep labs across the US are screwing techs!
we let them!
Almost from its inception the field of sleep technology has bent over backwards to please the whims of drs. and hospitals alike. Rather than shoring up entry requirements and establishing 1 or 2 year training programs affiliated with community colleges a new cottage industry was born with short-term training schools, much like you'll see for Microsoft certifications. It was a way for the owners of these programs to get off night shift permanently and earn a living away from direct patient care, and be looked on as entrepreneurs. However long term it did this field a great disservice. Medicine and healthcare with its degree-creep abounds with nurses carrying multiple degrees, RTs with 4-year degrees, physical therapists, audiologists , perfusionists, etc.....all requiring up to a doctoral level of education. After almost 4 decades for me in this biz, when are they going to shut the door to ojt's? Physicians and administrators see this, which is why sleep technology is not an equal to the other areas of medicine.
And now we have the CCSH credential, giving some techs hope that they can be a day person again. Trouble is, the BRPT is allowing NP's and PA's to take the exam. Who carries more clout in the eyes of healthcare; a sleep tech with MAYBE an AAS or a NP or PA with a graduate if not a doctoral degree?
Painful changes needed to have been made during the go-go 80's and 90's, but too many were simply concerned with lining their pockets rather than advancing the greater good of sleep technology.