Diagnostics - Hotel Based and Home Testing

Sleep Sevices

At RSC, we provide our patients the option of conducting their diagnostic test in either hotel-setting , in the comfort of their own bed or in our medical building.  Medical testing doesn’t have to be stressful.  Every patient has their own level of preference and at RSC we adjust to the patient’s needs whenever it is clinically appropriate.

Hotel-Based Testing

At least 40 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders each year and the number of people becoming aware of sleep problems is growing,”   Several hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area and RSC have partnered to provide our patients with the most comfortable yet comprehensive sleep testing possible.

The hotel-setting provides a home-like setting which will be more conducive to sleeping.  It is easier for our patients to adjust to a hotel room than a hospital bed.  The patient gets his own king size bed with all the amenities of staying in a hotel- use of the hotels pools, hot tubs, exercise room etc. In the morning, they can have a hot shower before going to work.  In some hotels (depending on the area), the patient can even have a full course hot breakfast in the morning.

Unattended Home Testing

In certain instances, our Medical Director may first order an unattended home test. Basically, the patient is given and instructed on how to use an “IPOD-like” device that involves a chest belt, a nasal canola and a finger probe. After initial instruction, the patient takes the device home and presses the “on” bottom before he/she goes to sleep. The patient then presses the “off” button when he/she wakes up. The entire device is either brought back to facility or shipped back for clinical processing.

Facility based versus Hotel Based and Home Testing

Our numerous years of managing and running sleep diagnostic facilities gives us a unique perspective to the pros and cons as to where and how the patients prefer to be tested. Among the considerations cited are as follows:

• Comfort
• Security and Safety
• Use of the hotel amenities
• Ease of finding the location
• Comfort of one’s own bed

With regards to the clinical efficacy of the test, our Medical Director carefully takes all these factors into consideration and balances it out with the clinical requirements of the patient. Among our Medical Director’s consideration:

• What other suspected co-morbidities are the patient exposed to?
• Is the patient physically capable to go to the sleep center or the hotel?
• Is a controlled environment more appropriate?
• Given ALL the other clinical history of the patient, which is the most appropriate testing methodology

The KEY premise of RSC is that some type of testing is BETTER than no testing at all.

RSC Hotel- Based Process