Specialist Assessment
All of our specialists are Melbourne trained, members of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and certified as qualified Sleep Disorders Physicians.
A comprehensive and proper initial assessment is vitally important so that a plan of action pertinent to your needs is organised at the first visit. In general, we focus on your symptoms, background health and other contributory factors. An initial assessment, particularly when there are complex features or components, may last up to 45 minutes or more, and more simple consultations may last up to 30 minutes. Blood tests, x-rays and other investigations are usually ordered on the first visit, and many of these can be done on site.
Sleep testing is typically organised following your initial assessment, either in the sleep laboratory or sometimes as a home test, depending on circumstances. We may ask you to keep a sleep diary which we would provide, or ask you to wear an activity monitor called an Actigraph, which also measures sunlight exposure. Specialised sleep tests are occasionally requested, such as a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) or a maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT), which measure the degree of sleepiness and the propensity towards sleepiness.