In This Issue...

Updated recommendations – recommencing PAP therapy studies

Subscription renewal season has arrived

What's on next?

Congratulations to NHMRC Investigator Grant recipients

RACP Foundation Research Awards

ASA/NATA Accreditation Program

RACP Adult Medicine Division Council representative

Sleep Health Foundation Membership

Sleep talk - Quote of the day

Updated recommendations – recommencing PAP therapy studies

With community transmission of COVID-19 slowing, the ASA has updated its guidelines to provide advice on recommencing positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy sleep studies.

The issues were discussed at an online forum for ASA and ANZSSA members on Monday 25 May. You can view the recording of the forum here by inputting the access password: sleep4U@home.

The updated recommendations document addresses variations in community levels of transmission, and appropriate precautionary measures to mitigate any risks to staff or patients from PAP therapy studies. The new guidelines are accessible on the ASA’s COVID-19 resources page. 

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Subscription renewal season has arrived

Your ASA membership subscription will expire on 30 June, and it’s very helpful if you can renew promptly if you can. To pay now, log in to the ASA website with your member details and renew through your account page (read how).

If you’re experiencing financial hardship, we don’t want that to stop you remaining part of the ASA. Please contact the CEO, Marcia Balzer, to discuss the options we have available. 

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What’s on next?

Did you miss last Wednesday’s webinar, Sensitivity to light and vulnerability for sleep and mood disorders presented by Elise McGlashan? You can access the recording here by entering the access password l1ghtsens* This recording will be available shortly on the ASA’s online Education Centre.

For scientists and researchers, the next webinar on Wednesday 10 June (3.30 AEST) is How to formulate a technically correct clinical research question for your next project or review. This is a free 2-hour lecture and workshop by Woolcock Institute epidemiologist, Nat Marshall. Register now

On Monday 15 June (7.30pm AEST), join Simon Frenkel, Moira Junge and patient advocate Jac Tomlins to explore Supporting clients with hypersomnia disorders: patient perspectives and non-pharmacological approaches. Register now

Check out all the upcoming online events via the Events listing. New webinars are being added all the time.

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Congratulations to NHMRC Investigator Grant recipients

Four ASA members have been recognised for their leadership in sleep research in the latest announcement from the NHMRC. 
 
Ron Grunstein attained a Leadership 3 grant to fund research targeting challenges in sleep health. It will focus on improving detection and management of sleep disorders using cutting edge technologies in different patient groups with the aim of maximising brain health. This will be achieved by a range of new treatments including clinical trials, digital health approaches and new ways of improving deep sleep.
 
Rosemary Horne has been awarded a Leadership 1 grant for work entitled ‘Dangerous dreams: the next era in paediatric sleep research’. Her studies will identify and improve treatment of sleep problems to improve overall physical health and quality of life for children and their families.
 
Danny Eckert’s Leadership 1 grant will help him investigate novel approaches for targeted sleep apnoea treatment and management. The project aims to use and develop novel approaches to identify the causes of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) on a per patient basis, improve current therapies and management approaches and test if new targeted therapies can be used to treat OSA.
 
Stephanie Rainey-Smith’s Emerging Leadership 1 grant addresses suboptimal sleep and unhealthy brain ageing. Her work will address limitations in our understanding of the impact of sleep characteristics on memory and thinking abilities and biological markers of brain health in older adults, by 1) exploring these relationships over time, and 2) enabling direct assessment of the effect of improved sleep on memory and thinking, and markers of brain health, following sleep-improvement therapy.
 
Three other grants awarded in this round also included elements of sleep research. Congratulations to all four of our successful members! 

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RACP Foundation Research Awards

Applications are now open for the RACP Foundation Research Awards, which provide research funding for 2021. The awards have a total value of $2.5 million available for up to 50 awards and are available to RACP Fellows and trainees from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Awards are available in the following categories:

• Career Development Fellowships for established researchers 
• Research Establishment Fellowships for those establishing their research careers 
• Research Entry Scholarships providing stipend support for those at the beginning their research careers. 

Full details for these opportunities including eligibility and application closing dates are available on the RACP Foundation Research Awards webpage. 

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ASA/NATA Accreditation Program

The joint ASA/NATA accreditation program for Sleep Disorders Services began in 2012 as a continuation of the ASA accreditation scheme which had been running for many years.

As a joint program, the ASA have created the Standard for Sleep Disorders Services, while NATA conduct and administer the accreditation scheme.

To date, 73 services have gained accreditation, including facilities in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Over the last few months NATA has received a large number of enquiries from sleep laboratories interested in commencing the accreditation process.  NATA welcomes the increased volume of requests and encourages all facilities to review the ASA Standard, as well as the list of related accreditation documents on the NATA website.

There are a number of challenges involved in achieving a quality service (Quality Manuals, Internal Audits, Proficiency Testing etc.), and whilst they cannot consult, NATA staff are able to discuss these issues with services at any stage on their path to accreditation.

There are numerous benefits to gaining accreditation, including:

• providing objective, independent attestation that your sleep service is competent to carry out testing in accordance with the ASA Standard for Sleep Disorders Services 
• building your service and organisation's credibility 
• building confidence for patients and referrers that your service can produce reliable data on which to make patient management decisions 
• increased staff satisfaction 
• providing a competitive advantage by recognition as a high quality service.

NATA is a not-for-profit organisation, and opening in 1947 was the world’s first accreditation service for laboratories.  Dedicated to ensuring quality laboratories in Australia, NATA also provide a number of training courses.  The Internal Audits and Quality Management in the Laboratory courses have been popular with sleep service staff, and both can be delivered online.

If your facility is considering accreditation in the near future, or if you would like to discuss the benefits of a NATA course, please contact one of NATA’s dedicated Sleep Disorders Services staff below.

NATA Melbourne Office: ph 03 9274 8200
Ms Janet Copland
Mr Ash Howlett

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RACP Adult Medicine Division Council representative

The ASA’s current representative on the RACP’s Adult Medicine Division Council will be stepping down in July as her term is finished. The ASA Board is asking College members to consider nominating themselves for this role. To volunteer, please send your CV and expression of interest to Marcia Balzer.

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Sleep Health Foundation membership

The past few months have been seen the way many organisations, including the Sleep Health Foundation (the Foundation), conduct their businesses change dramatically. It has also seen many in our industry struggling to keep their business open and others have had to cut their hours of work or are no longer working.  In this environment our small team of volunteer board members continue to strive to be the voice for the community, advocating sleep health and good sleep health practices. 

If you want to join when you renew your ASA membership you can choose to add the Foundation membership to your ASA membership.

If you have already renewed your ASA membership it’s not too late to join. You can join by visiting the Sleep Health Foundation website  
 
We urge you to renew your membership if you are able. If you are not a member we urge you to become a member if you are able. If you are not already a member the cost is $75 +GST.   Becoming a member of the Foundation is not just about what we can provide for you, it’s also about building strength in numbers and being a part of a wider community. The Foundation is a charity and receives no government funding to perform its important role to promote sleep. 

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Sleep talk - Quote of the day

Have a great sleep quote? Send it in to [email protected]

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