In an update published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that telemedicine was an effective tool for diagnosing and treating sleep disorders during the pandemic.
Since the last update in 2015, the use of telemedicine has increased exponentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing body of published research has shown that telemedicine is effective in diagnosing and treating sleep apnea and in providing cognitive behavioral therapy to treat insomnia.
The update authors emphasized the importance of maintaining patient privacy in order to comply with the guidelines of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as state and state guidelines. Doctors should ensure that emergency services (e.g. e-911) are activated if an emergency situation arises during a care session.
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To ensure patient safety while practicing telemedicine, a quality assurance model is required that includes contingency plans for patients with limited technological skills and for patients with language or communication barriers. Telemedicine visits should reflect face-to-face visits, meaning that both the patient and the clinician can devote their undivided attention to the patient’s health needs.
The authors of this update stated that telemedicine has the potential to narrow the health care access gap for people living in remote locations or belonging to lower socio-economic groups. However, telemedicine relies on high-speed internet access that some of these groups may not be able to access.
Additional research is needed to evaluate the long-term outcomes of patients who have used telehealth services to diagnose or treat a sleep disorder. Validated workflows and templates are required for the diagnosis and treatment of narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, parasomnias, insomnia and sleep-wake disorders in the circadian rhythm with telemedicine. A large volume of sleep data has been generated by portable medical and consumer devices and this data requires validation to be used in sleep health care.
With time and additional research, the best practices, achievements, and challenges in using telemedicine to manage sleep conditions will allow more flexible policies to support the expansion and use of telemedicine.
Disclosure: Several authors have stated that they belong to the pharmaceutical, biotech and / or device industries. For a full list of the authors’ information, see the original reference.
reference
Shamim-Uzzaman QA, Bae CJ, Ehsan Z. et al. The use of telemedicine to diagnose and treat sleep disorders: an update from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021; 17 (5): 1103-1. 1107. doi: 10.5664 / jcsm.9194
