NTSB Says Commercial Drivers Should Be Screened
Great, what will this involve?
NTSB Says Commercial Drivers Should Be Screened
Great, what will this involve?
Uh, whad'ya say? I was sleeping!
First you have to have a sleep study done to determine the type and severity of sleep apnea you have. Then the sleep specialist recommends a treatment. Another sleep study is done using this treatment to prove this treatment is effective in treating your particular type of apnea. Then you must perform what is called a "wakefullness maintainance test." This is a test in which they hook you up to the monitors that are used in a sleep study(wires everywhere), lie you down in a darkened room on a bed, and tell you "Don't go to sleep." They shut the door and you have to lie there for 30 minutes and NOT sleep. You can't move, you can't read, you can't listen to music, nothing. You just lie there and not sleep. This starts at 6am, and goes until 4pm. For 30 minutes you just lie there and not sleep. After 30 minutes, they unhook you and you can walk around, watch tv, listen to music, whatever. At the top of the hour, they hook you back up, turn out the lights and say, "Don't go to sleep." This goes from 6am to 4pm. At the top of the hour, you lie down for thirty minutes and don't go to sleep. This is supposed to prove the treatment prescribed for you is effective because only someone who got a good night's sleep could lie in a bed for 30 minutes at 6am and not go to sleep. If you fail any part of these tests, you do not get your dot card.
First you have to have a sleep study done to determine the type and severity of sleep apnea you have. Then the sleep specialist recommends a treatment. Another sleep study is done using this treatment to prove this treatment is effective in treating your particular type of apnea. Then you must perform what is called a "wakefullness maintainance test." This is a test in which they hook you up to the monitors that are used in a sleep study(wires everywhere), lie you down in a darkened room on a bed, and tell you "Don't go to sleep." They shut the door and you have to lie there for 30 minutes and NOT sleep. You can't move, you can't read, you can't listen to music, nothing. You just lie there and not sleep. This starts at 6am, and goes until 4pm. For 30 minutes you just lie there and not sleep. After 30 minutes, they unhook you and you can walk around, watch tv, listen to music, whatever. At the top of the hour, they hook you back up, turn out the lights and say, "Don't go to sleep." This goes from 6am to 4pm. At the top of the hour, you lie down for thirty minutes and don't go to sleep. This is supposed to prove the treatment prescribed for you is effective because only someone who got a good night's sleep could lie in a bed for 30 minutes at 6am and not go to sleep. If you fail any part of these tests, you do not get your dot card.
Sorry to say Jack Nicholson would have failed. He closed his eyes.
You ain't kidding! To this day I have never experienced boredom on such a grand scale. Even the morning meetings usually end after 10 minutes and that's only once a day.Nice! Will dying of boredom disqualify you?
They don't test every driver: just the drivers who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea by a sleep specialist(not a gp). And you're right: obesity is one of the problems with one type of apnea, obstructive sleep apnea. Extra skin around the neck pushes on the windpipe while the person is lying down, causing the windpipe to close. This causes the person to stop breathing, interrupting sleep. With central sleep apnea, the brain sends signals to the body to stop breathing. This has nothing to do with weight or physical condition. That is why it is important to see a sleep specialist and let him/her determine which type of apnea one has, if at all.Nice post hurricane.
It think it will be cost prohibitive to test every driver. Based on this link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090311111002.htm
I think the trigger for the more costly testing described above is going to obesity, Body mass index. if you are over the threshold, you are going to be the candidate for the testing.
I stated somewhere in another post here that the charts are a little off. though i might have been wrong for 167 for 5'10" as being the threshold limit for obese. I saw that scale today at the duane reade and they had different weights for a given height depending on "frame".
I would be more than little curious what those numbers are going to actually be. It may be that those who are on the cusp may wanna be like college wrestlers and "make weight" by not eating too much a few days before the physical and make sure that they have a good "movement" before hitting the physical.
This shouldn't affect the package car drivers because they don't have c.d.l.s and are generally not heavy. Feeders, oh boy. Heavier with c.d.l.s
They don't test every driver: just the drivers who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea by a sleep specialist(not a gp). And you're right: obesity is one of the problems with one type of apnea, obstructive sleep apnea. Extra skin around the neck pushes on the windpipe while the person is lying down, causing the windpipe to close. This causes the person to stop breathing, interrupting sleep. With central sleep apnea, the brain sends signals to the body to stop breathing. This has nothing to do with weight or physical condition. That is why it is important to see a sleep specialist and let him/her determine which type of apnea one has, if at all.
Oh, one more thing; for the initial sleep study, my gp had to write a prescription for it. I could not just call a sleep center and schedule a study. First, the gp, then on to the sleep specialist. Fortunately, my gp was terrific and helped to expedite matters and everything was taken care of in plenty of time for the dot folks. I never lost my dot card.
Good point, I see what you're saying.I hear what you are saying hurricane, I think the practical application of this is going to be the gp first , during a dot exam. Most drivers aren't going to give answers that will make them more likely to be sent to the sleep specialist. So, The bmi tests (along with a few other objective quick tests) will be used to see if the "patient" needs to go to a sleep specialist. Then the sleep specialist will determine the next step.
My only concern is that then gp doesn't have a monetary interest to sending you to a sleep specialist and/or that the sleep specialist doesn't have a financial interest in sending you to a sleep center(i.e. he has an ownership stake in it)
We'll see how it turns out.