Chronic sleep disorders are estimated to affect 50 to 70 million Americans, the majority of whom are undiagnosed and untreated. While the diminished quality of sleep has a profound effect on the overall health of those who suffer from sleep disorders, most do not suspect sleep disruptions to be the root of such symptoms as fatigue. Added to this quandary is the lack of experts in sleep medicine and the lack of education on the topic among physicians in general.
Recently, neurologists Dr. Charlene Gamaldo and Dr. Rachel Salas at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine launched a mobile application called MySleep101 to address this paucity of sleep health care education. Aimed toward the education of health care providers, the app supplies information about the seven most common sleep disorders: restless legs syndrome, hypersomnia, insomnia, sleep apnea, circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 10-15 minute video segments, the animated avatars of Gamaldo and Salas, through the actual recorded voices of the two experts, convey a comprehensive overview of sleep disorders — their clinical features, symptoms, risk factors, treatment plans and management strategies.
“Although a health and wellness website can provide the same information, a mobile application is a more accessible medium, as the information has already been downloaded and is readily available on the smartphone or tablet the health care provider is utilizing,” Gamaldo said. “Also, the mobile app, unlike a website platform, includes an interactive component and requires the learner to go through interactive modules.”
To the knowledge of the creators of the MySleep101 app, there have not been comparable apps geared toward sleep health care education, in contrast with the variety of applications that allow the users to track their sleep patterns. As of now, according to Gamaldo, the MySleep101 application is the highest downloaded application to originate from the School of Medicine, and two subsequent variations of the MySleep101 application are currently in development to further expand the outreach of sleep health care education.
Though the current MySleep101 app can also be highly instructive for health care consumers, the upcoming patient version of the MySleep101 is specifically geared toward promoting the sleep health care education of consumers. The other application currently underway is MySleep Script, an adjunct tool to the educational MySleep101 app that ideally would be used in a clinical setting in which both the physician and patient would be able to review and discuss the results of the questionnaire provided by the app.
“It is estimated that a primary physician has about 18 minutes to spend with each patient,” Gamaldo said. “Before their general examinations, patients in the waiting room can complete a series of questions through the app and discern if their concerns are related to sleeping disorders and if this implication would be worth discussing with the doctor during the examination.”
Moreover, even if the results of the questionnaire do not indicate a sleeping disorder, patients would benefit from the healthy sleeping tips and the personalized strategies provided by the MySleep Script application.
In addition to the development of two more apps, Gamaldo and Salas, with the help of an interdisciplinary team of experts in graphic design, animation, software development, and behavioral sleep medicine, intend to further extend the scope of the MySleep101 application so that it is compatible with android-based devices. At present, the app is only available for Apple devices.
As the MySleep101 application and subsequent apps broaden their influence over the education of health care providers and consumers alike, Gamaldo and Salas anticipate a greater attention toward the proper diagnosis and treatment of sleeping disorders which, if left untreated, have been linked to a variety of health complications, including stroke, dementia, diabetes, depression and heart disease.
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