AAST’s Certification in Clinical Sleep Health (CCSH) Designated Education Program is designed for health professionals who work directly with sleep medicine patients, families and other health care practitioners to coordinate and manage patient care and improve outcomes. As part of the program, AAST will be hosting a CCSH workshop June 25-26 in which attendees will experience an individualized, instructor-led learning experience with robust discussions.
The Certification in Clinical Sleep Health (CCSH), offered through the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT), showcases the knowledge of those who manage patient care as health care providers and educators. In addition to meeting specific educational/clinical eligibility requirements, individuals must hold a Basic Life Support (BLS) certification or its equivalent, adhere to the BRPT Standards of Conduct and pass the CCSH examination.
Access tools and resources related to earning your CCSH credential and sign up to receive updates from AAST.
A patient scenario involves analyzing the patient’s test results and utilizing appropriate communication techniques to provide enhanced targeted education to improve outcomes. As sleep health navigators, and Certified Clinical Sleep Health (CCSH) educators, we focus on patient strategies to improve adherence, improve sleep and improve the comorbidities that impact a patient’s overall health. These patient scenarios, which are a part of the AAST Enhanced CCSH Designated Education Program Recorded Modules, build skills, knowledge and critical thinking skills to help you develop educational techniques that can influence a patient’s self-management of their health and well-being.
“What’s your why?” has become a popular question we ask ourselves to identify why we do the things we do — especially if that thing is challenging! Some may answer, “I do it for my health,” or “I do it for my family.”
Sleep Disorders | CCSH | mental health disorders
The way that patients present for evaluation, testing and follow up is not always straightforward, and this is particularly true in the presence of mental health disorders. An understanding of mental health disorders, which often overlap with sleep disorders, is important. Being equipped to discern the differences and similarities in sleep and mental health disorders when reviewing a patient’s symptoms and history can assist the sleep technologist and the clinical sleep health educator (CCSH) to differentiate these disorders. Module six of the AAST Enhanced CCSH Designated Education Program outlines the important role that clinical evaluation plays in managing these patients.
It is a standard in medicine to use clinical pathways that support the use of evidence-based medicine and clinical guidelines. These pathways improve clinical effectiveness as well as multidisciplinary communication and teamwork that support continuity of care across the clinical disciplines, which is exactly where the clinical sleep health educator (CCSH) can support patient care effectively. I'm excited to introduce module five of the AAST Enhanced CCSH Designated Education Program Recorded Modules which outlines the important role that clinical evaluation plays in managing sleep disordered patients, especially those with complex medical conditions.
“What’s in your wallet?” This is a popular refrain from a television commercial touting the benefits of a credit card. It promises that the card holder is ready for all situations that require some access or assistance for a situation at hand. As certified clinical sleep health (CCSH) educators, we too must be able to reach into our “knowledge” wallet and use the right “knowledge card” to assist and work with our patients. The information in the “Incidence & Prevalence of Sleep Disorders” module of the AAST CCSH Designated Education Program Recorded Modules will assist you to acquire this knowledge base.
With sleep medicine and technology changing rapidly, we must remember to use our critical thinking skills as certified clinical sleep health (CCSH) educators. The information in the “Clinical Evaluation and Management” module of the AAST Enhanced CCSH Designated Education Program Recorded Modules will assist participants in utilizing their knowledge base and critical thinking skills to better assess and educate their patients.
An essential element of the clinical sleep health educator (CCSH) role is an understanding of modes and rationale for sleep testing based on patient history and complaints. In addition, an understanding of the data derived from the various types of testing and the ability to evaluate that data is crucial. In module two of the AAST Enhanced CCSH Designated Education Program, Jon Atkinson, BS, RPSGT, CCSH, FAAST, discusses the rationale behind sleep testing, both in the laboratory and the home, and highlights the importance of a quality sleep history to ensure the appropriate level of testing and sleep environment is provided. Additionally, Atkinson gives an overview of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) and the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) indications, recommended protocols and scoring process for each test.
A fundamental understanding of normal sleep and wakefulness, along with related behavioral and physiologic variables, provides the basis from which sleep disorders in patients of all ages can be identified. It is also crucial that a sleep professional has a fundamental understanding of each sleep disorder as patterns and stages of sleep and wakefulness and the distribution, proportion and progression of different stages of sleep and wakefulness across a sleep episode develop and change from birth through old age.
