Great Debates: Your Sleep Physician Should be an Otolaryngologist: A Pro/Con Debate (2023 AMW)
2023 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disease caused by repetitive episodes of nocturnal upper airway obstruction. During these episodes, there is disruption of sleep and activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The disease impacts a significant proportion of our population and puts the patient at risk for cardiovascular sequela and symptoms impacting their quality of life. As we further our understanding of the pathophysiology of OSA, disease phenotypes, and develop new diagnostic and therapeutic options, we are able to provide care directed at the individual patient’s disease. The one size fits all approach to OSA needs to transition to a personalized, patient centric model. The personalized care model allows for assessment of factors contributing to the individual patient's disease, relevant comorbidities, review of treatment options and patient goals of therapy, and recommendations for treatment. In order to truly provide personalized care, a physician must either have the expertise to adequately understand the disease process and offer multimodal therapy or have easy access to a variety of consultants. As Otolaryngologists, we possess the expertise necessary to understand the physiologic mechanisms leading to obstructive sleep apnea, are armed with the ability to understand associated sleep comorbidities, and have the ability to provide both surgical and non-surgical treatment. Much of this is incorporated into our general residency training and board certification. In addition, many Otolaryngologists already possess a secondary certificates in Sleep Medicine and more residents are seeking additional training through hybrid Sleep Medicine/Surgery fellowships. With this lecture, we will review the assessment and management of OSA and relevant sleep related comorbidities, discuss treatment protocols which allow for patient centric care and can improve patient retention, and show how this can all be done through the Otolaryngology office creating a "one stop shop" for the complete management of patients with OSA.
Credits
CME:1.0, MOC:1.0