Certification Examination for Indian Sleep Technicians/technologists
By Indian Board of Sleep Medicine
Background: The field of sleep medicine has grown significantly due to increased public awareness of sleep disorders. With this growth has come the need for accessible educational opportunities for Polysomnograpic (PSG) Technicians/Technologists who perform a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. PSG technologists should have special training to perform PSG for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep/arousal disorders, including the management of positive airway pressure titration for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. These individuals should be able to safely operate sophisticated medical equipment to record various parameters of sleep/wake physiology. A lifelong learning would be necessary if the services provided by sleep technologists have to inspire professional excellence, and international recognition.
Role of Indian Board of Sleep Medicine: If the Indian sleep technologists have to be recognized internationally, their professional knowledge and expertise will also have to be certified by a competent professional body. With this aim in future, the ISSR is making efforts to certify Sleep Technicians/Technologists by conducting an examination. It will certainly help many talented young Indians to seek employment in the field of sleep medicine either in India or abroad
Certified Sleep Technician Examination: The successful candidates will be designated as Certified Sleep Technician (CST). This examination assesses the professional competence of technicians who perform routine adult PSG and basic CPAP titration for sleep apnea. The examination is being developed and will be administered in the line of CPSGT. This examination will also be a pathway to take up Registered Polysomnograpic Technologists (RPSGT) examination which is considered the gold standard in sleep technologist credentialing. The examination will consist of multiple choice questions of single response type.
Eligibility: Applicant must meet all eligibility requirements on the date of application.
- Basic qualification: 10+2 preferably science stream from a recognised Board/ Diploma in engineering from recognized institute
- Three months of clinical experience in PSG
- Must have recorded 30 PSG and two MSLT
- Completed a Designated self study programme of 75 hours as prescribed in the syllabus given below
- Experience in cardio pulmonary resuscitation
- Certification of experience from mentor
A successful candidate will have basic knowledge of:
- Sleep physiology, respiratory physiology, cardiac physiology, classification of sleep disorders, common sleep complaints and symptoms of common sleep disorders
- Polysomnography instrumentation, performing polysomnography (preparation and set up, recording and monitoring), scoring rules for sleep stages, EEG waveform morphology, arousals, artifacts, arrhythmias, respiratory events, sleep apneas and diagnostic criteria, practice parameters for sleep apnea, adult testing procedures for sleep apnea, intervention/ treatment / CPAP therapy.
The application form (Form No 2) can be downloaded from https://issr.in/application-forms/