If you're going for a sleep study, go through this checklist before going to the clinic or hospital. Once you arrive and are hooked up to a machine, you will not be able to go back and (in some instances) you will not be able to leave until you are scheduled to.
Unless you have no problem falling asleep in strange places with a million wires taped to your body, it's best to have someone else drive you to and from the sleep study. Odds are you will be too exhausted to drive the next morning. Consider taking the day off of work or see if you can come in a few hours later so you can get a nap.
Bring:
- A fully charged mobile phone (you many not be allowed to make calls on the hospital phones)
- Pajamas or other loose-fitting clothes easy to get on and off
- Snacks
- Water or other beverages (you will not be able to get anything to eat or drink once the study begins)
- Medications you need to take at night or when you wake up the next day. The workers at the sleep clinic will not be allowed to give you any medication, even if the sleep clinic is located in a hospital.
- A book (many sleep clinics have televisions in their rooms but not everyone can live on TV alone.)
- Knowledge of what entrances and exits will be open in the hospital when you arrive and when you leave the next morning. Many hospitals lock most of their doors after the sun goes down. Some may only keep the emergency room door open. If there is an emergency and you have to be picked up before your originally scheduled time, let the person picking you up know where these entrances are located.
- Your ID (a driver's license usually will do.)
- Your health insurance card (some places will want to see it -- some won't.)
- Your prescription for the sleep study from the doctor who ordered it. (If it was faxed over, make sure the sleep clinic got it BEFORE you show up.)
Image from Wikimedia Commons.
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