BY JANET MARSHALL
Along with clean sheets and a continental breakfast, some local hotel guests can now get something else: a diagnosis.
Mary Washington Hospital recently signed a contract to rent five rooms at the Massaponax Hampton Inn. Since October, patients have been getting tested for sleep apnea, restless-leg syndrome and other disorders in the comfortable hotel setting.
Terry Enders of Spotsylvania County was one of the center's first patients. Enders had been tested for sleep apnea before, at the hospital's main lab on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg. He said he appreciated the comfort and familiarity of the hotel during his follow-up test.
"It's difficult enough to do a test like this," Enders said. "This is nice."
Putting a sleep lab in a hotel is a new trend, notably among big university-affiliated sleep centers such as those at Duke and Vanderbilt.
"It's about being able to put [patients] in a place where they feel like they're going to be able to get a good night's sleep," said Dianne McKee, manager of the hospital's Sleep Disorders Center.
Many patients will still be seen at the hospital's office-based setting in Fredericksburg. Those who get evaluated in the hotel will have the luxury of watching TV, swimming or checking e-mail (if they've brought along a laptop). In the morning, they can head to the lobby for a free breakfast.
"There's a difference," Enders said of the hotel and the office-based lab. "[The hotel] automatically fits into your comfort zone."
The hospital rented the rooms because of the area's huge demand for sleep testing. Earlier this year, McKee said, patients were waiting up to 12 weeks for an appointment at the hospital's eight-room lab on Princess Anne Street.
A group of local pulmonologists opened a sleep lab this year--Sleep Solutions, based in the office of Pulmonology Associates near Mary Washington Hospital.
Still, a need remained, McKee said. And as the hospital explored its options, expanding into a hotel became the most appealing choice--because of comfort, and because hospital staff could start seeing patients without having to wait for a new lab to be built.
"We needed to do something fast to meet the demand of the community," McKee said. "And because some of the better sleep labs in the country, such as Duke and Vanderbilt, were already using a hotel-based model, we wanted to follow their practice."
Testing and treatment in hotel-based labs are "exactly the same quality" as in conventional labs, said Kathleen McCann, communications director for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
McCann said there are no data to prove that people actually sleep better, or are easier to diagnose, in hotel-based labs. But there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest the experience is more pleasant, and that patients are more likely to drift off and sleep well.
The hospital would not release details of its contract with the Hampton Inn.
But, "It's not about the cost," McKee said. "It's about the customer service and quality."
Around the country, hospitals and private practices have partnered with hotels to take advantage of the already built rooms, daily housekeeping service and creature comforts.
Vanderbilt and the University of Louisville have partnered with Marriott; Duke partnered with the upscale Millennium Hotel.
"It's the wave of the future," McKee said. "Duke is a pacesetter, so we thought, OK, let's do it like this."
For hotels, the relationships are an opportunity to guarantee that a certain number of rooms are booked.
"It's a great piece of business," said Terry English, general manager of the Massaponax Hampton Inn. "We're excited about having them."
McCann, of the Sleep Academy, said hotel-based labs take testing "out of that sanitary hospital environment and put it into a more luxurious setting."
"A lot of the best sleep centers in the country have done this," McCann said. "I wouldn't say it's a huge number, but it's a growing number."
For more information about the hospital's Sleep Disorders Center, call 540/741-7830 or visit outpatient .medicorp.org.
Janet Marshall: 540/374-5527| The disorder is commonly diagnosed during sleep testing. People with sleep apnea stop breathing while they sleep, often dozens of times a night. The chief symptoms are snoring and fatigue, and the treatment is a special sleep mask that uses pressurized air to keep the airways open. Terry Enders of Spotsylvania County said he put off getting tested for the disorder, thinking he'd have trouble adjusting to the mask. But his life improved immeasurably after he was diagnosed and got a mask. "I wish I had done this sooner," he said. |