Polysomnographic Technologist

Job Summary

The Polysomnographic Technologist is responsible for providing comprehensive evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders. This role involves working under the supervision of the Director of Respiratory or designee to ensure the highest level of patient care and education.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare and calibrate equipment required for testing to determine proper functioning and make adjustments as necessary.
• Apply electrodes and sensors according to accepted published standards.
• Perform appropriate physiologic calibrations to ensure proper signals and make adjustments as necessary.
• Perform positive airways pressure (PAP) mask fitting.
• Follow procedural protocols such as Multiple Sleep Latency Test, Maintenance of Wakefulness Test, parasomnia studies to ensure collection of appropriate data.
• Follow "lights out" procedures to establish and document baseline values (such as body positions, oxyhemoglobin saturation, respiratory, and heart rates).
• Perform Polysomnographic data acquisition while monitoring study-tracing quality to ensure signals are artifact-free and make adjustments as necessary.
• Document routine observations including sleep stages and clinical events, changes in procedure, and significant events in order to facilitate scoring and interpretation of results.
• Implement appropriate interventions (including actions necessary for patient safety and therapeutic interventions such as continuous and bi-level positive airways pressure, etc.).
• Follow "lights on" procedures to verify integrity of collected data and complete the data collection process.
• Demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and provide age-specific care in the treatment, assessment, and education of patients.
• Oversee and perform difficult and unusual procedures and therapeutic interventions.
• Score sleep/wake stages by applying professional accepted guidelines.
• Score clinical events (such as respiratory events, cardiac events, limb movements, arousals, according to center-specific protocols).
• Generate accurate reports by tabulating sleep/wake and clinical event data.

Qualifications

• Successful completion of an accredited educational program leading to an associate degree with an emphasis on polysomnography.
• Or
• Successful completion of a polysomnography program of no less than one year duration associated with a state-licensed and/or a nationally accredited educational facility or equivalent experience and documented proficiency at all competencies required of a polysomnographic Technician.
• And
• Certification by the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists as a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist or equivalent.