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Marshall Browning Hospital Opens Sleep Lab
If you’re having trouble sleeping, there’s good news! For patients in Perry County and the surrounding area, there is now a sleep lab that is conveniently close by. Marshall Browning Hospital in Du Quoin is pleased to announce the opening of a sleep lab at the hospital. The sleep lab is affiliated with St. Joseph Memorial Hospital Sleep Disorders Center in Murphysboro, which is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. This affiliation ensures that the highest guidelines for quality patient care are met.
According to national studies, approximately six percent of the American population suffers from some type of sleep disorder. This may include insomnia (difficulty falling asleep), early awakening, disturbance of breathing patterns during sleep, loud snoring, sleep walking, abnormal muscle movements during sleep and many other conditions. If you suffer from sleep disturbance, you or your sleep partner know how this may affect your normal lifestyle. Sleep problems affect individuals of any age and occupation. A recent national poll indicated forty percent of persons over the age of sixty experienced sleep problems. Sleep problems can be treated. If you think you have a sleep disorder, the first step is to tell your personal physician. Sleep studies are conducted four nights a week at Marshall Browning Hospital. The actual sleep study will require you to stay overnight as an outpatient. To simulate your sleeping environment at home, the sleep lab is comfortably furnished like a bedroom, including a private bathroom. The staff at the sleep lab schedule the sleep study on a date that is convenient for the patient, including scheduling a daytime sleep study if the individual does shift work. Sleep studies include continuous monitoring of sleep patterns by brain waves, muscle movements and eye movements. The patient’s oxygen saturation, heart rate, chest and abdominal movements, body and leg movements, and airflow from the nose and mouth are also monitored. The entire procedure is painless and accomplished by using skin-surface devices. The activities and movements are monitored and recorded by sophisticated equipment and observed by a technologist through a closed-circuit television monitor.
The sleep team includes Dr. Terry Brown, Medical Director, who is a full-time, board certified sleep medicine physician who reads and interprets all the sleep studies. The team also includes a polysomnographic technologist and certified respiratory therapists who will prepare the patient for the sleep study and monitor the patient throughout the night.
Sleep studies performed in the sleep lab are accepted medical procedures and thus should be covered by most insurance carriers. For more information, please talk to your physician or contact Marshall Browning Hospital by calling (618) 542-2146, ext. 1331.
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