kerimwedding said:
Can someone enlighten me as to how long one of these fellowships lasts?
What are the common problems encountered aside from sleep apnea, narcolepsy, etc?
Is this the same thing as an EEG fellowship?
Are neurologists being squeezed out of this market by pulmonologists?
what is the reimbursement/salary for a sleep doc?
Thanks
Sleep fellowships are generally a year long.
Common problems: Sleep apnea (probably by far the #1 problem), narcolepsy, restless leg, periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS). And don't forget insomnia.
It's not the same thing as an EEG fellowship, although there is some overlap (since a sleep study is pretty much a "slowed down" eeg). You need to know EEG to be able to score sleep studies (although it's probably a rare doc who actually does the scoring; that's usually done by a tech).
Both neurologists and pulmonologists can subspecialize in sleep, so I don't think one "squeezes out" the other. In fact, I think of them as being somewhat complementary; the ideal situation I think would be to have both a pulm and neuro doc working together, because the pulm doc will have more familiarity with airway issues (i.e., obstructive sleep apnea) and the neurologist will have more background with things like narcolepsy, etc.
Sorry, this one I can't help you on except to tell you that sleep studies are pretty pricey (mostly due to overhead costs of employing nighttime sleep techs, expensive equipment, keeping things running overnight, limited capacity, etc.) I've heard rumors of sleep docs making over $300K but I can't substantiate that and if it's true I expect it's the exception, not the rule.
