Modern machines.

[Geeksquadofun]

I am new to the board and was just diagnosed with sleep apnea. Great forum and extremely valuable content. Good work.

Looks like the ResMed AirSense 10 gets good reviews.

Being a techie person... I have to ask. Is anyone working on a device that would embrace newer technology like smartphone and tablets? Bluetooth, WiFi, streaming to a TV, etc.

Thanks.

Denis

[zonk]

Looks like the ResMed AirSense 10 gets good reviews.

I like AirSense 10 AutoSet and liked the S9 AutoSet before it, a touch more

As for "newer technology", I'm quite happy with the information of last night data on the screen sleep report
Every now and then might download the data from the SD card but don't find it that necessary ... ymmv
The main thing, finding a comfortable mask give you a good night sleep
All the technology wouldn't help, if the mask is uncomfortable and leak like a sieve

Welcome to the forum, Geeksquadofun

[Sleeprider]

Denis, I think interactive technological advances will eventually come, but we are dealing with an industry that predominately serves the medical community, not end users. There are obvious security and privacy issues with integrating the kinds of technology you'd like to see. It also raises the cost of making a medical device with no essential purpose, unless medical studies are undertaken to prove that efficacy and compliance improves with such features. Unless the medical community demands these features, I doubt we'll see them soon.

Keep in mind the in-house software used by Resmed and Respironics is very dumbed down compared to the professional versions and Sleepyhead. So far, most medical professionals and DMEs do not want you to have access to the information or controls. If and when that changes, you might get WiFi or BT connectivity and something besides dumbed down happy faces and frowny faces.

[Geeksquadofun]

Denis, I think interactive technological advances will eventually come, but we are dealing with an industry that predominately serves the medical community, not end users. There are obvious security and privacy issues with integrating the kinds of technology you'd like to see. It also raises the cost of making a medical device with no essential purpose, unless medical studies are undertaken to prove that efficacy and compliance improves with such features. Unless the medical community demands these features, I doubt we'll see them soon.

Keep in mind the in-house software used by Resmed and Respironics is very dumbed down compared to the professional versions and Sleepyhead. So far, most medical professionals and DMEs do not want you to have access to the information or controls. If and when that changes, you might get WiFi or BT connectivity and something besides dumbed down happy faces and frowny faces.

I hear you. I was a rep in the medical field (operating microscopes) for many years and know that - generally speaking - doctors do not embrace new technologies quickly. My family doctor just, this year, started to use a laptop, with difficulties - in the exam room. She still prefers pen and paper, truth be told. A fax machine is still considered essential for them...

I am going to use Sleepyhead for sure to analyse my data - I've been using a FitBit and my smartwatch (Pebble) to monitor my sleep in the last years, and knew something was wrong... I am REALLY looking forward to using my CPAP every night.

Thanks for the welcome.

Denis

[zonk]

Keep in mind the in-house software used by Resmed and Respironics is very dumbed down compared to the professional versions and Sleepyhead.

I don't have SleepyHead latest but what you find in SleepyHead that you don't find in ResScan

[trish6hundred]

Hi Geeksquadofun,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Much success to you with your CPAP therapy.

[Sleeprider]

Zonk, I'm not a Rescan user, so I'm not the best to answer that question. Sleepyhead and Rescan offer much of the same information, although it is presented differently and Sleepyhead seems a bit more interactive. I miss-spoke and should have said consumer software is very dumbed down. Resmed intends Rescan for professional use, and Respironics intends EncorePro and Basic for professionals. Both are available through Apneaboard but were not intended for end-users. Respironics now offers EncoreAnywhere to DMEs and physicians, and Resmed has remote downloading of compliance data and uploads of prescriptions through wireless phone systems. Again, not consumer stuff.

I think both companies do make simple interfaces intended to be used by patients that give them a "score" based on things like compliance and leak rate, and that was the kind of software I was referring to. If not for forums like Apneaboard, that is what you'd have access to.

[MobileBasset]

Keep in mind the in-house software used by Resmed and Respironics is very dumbed down compared to the professional versions and Sleepyhead.

I don't have SleepyHead latest but what you find in SleepyHead that you don't find in ResScan

Zonk, I use ResScan over Sleepyhead and find it at least as detailed and less buggy for my AirCurve 10. When people call the ResMed software dumb or simplified I assume they are talking about the data that is processed on the MyAir website or that which is displayed on the machine sleep-data window. Those are definitely "simplified". But in their defense, they provide the necessary and adequate information for a large portion of the CPAP population and they are convenient and globally accessible.

[zonk]

Thanks

My Air does not provide you with detailed data, only summary data and hours using the machine for insurance compliance purposes

Detailed data and flow data, only available on the SD card
Detailed data written directly on the SD card (not stored on the machine) providing the card was inside the machine while using it, otherwise detailed data is lost forever, something I've done on some occasions, getting forgetful in my old age

[DocWils]

I hear you. I was a rep in the medical field (operating microscopes) for many years and know that - generally speaking - doctors do not embrace new technologies quickly. My family doctor just, this year, started to use a laptop, with difficulties - in the exam room. She still prefers pen and paper, truth be told. A fax machine is still considered essential for them...

I am going to use Sleepyhead for sure to analyse my data - I've been using a FitBit and my smartwatch (Pebble) to monitor my sleep in the last years, and knew something was wrong... I am REALLY looking forward to using my CPAP every night.

Thanks for the welcome.

Denis

There is a good reason we don't rapidly embrace new technology - first, we work fast and hard, and often, for us older docs, a pen and paper is just plain faster - a fax machine remains a necessity so long as a legal signature is required for a script, as it is in both Canada and in my country. Moreover, we won't be early users of technology because it isn't proven yet, and, well, lives are at stake. When it is proven and the bugs are worked out, we embrace it happily - the hospital I work at is now largely paperless, at least on the surface - we take a patient's anamnesis with a thin client computer, chart and follow their progress with it, keep all their radiology films on it and all reports from all departments and labs on it, and we are experimenting with various tablets to provide a walking interface for our staff (although, with the exception of the Xperia tablets from Sony, no one like it much - they weigh to much to carry around the whole time) and on and on, but if we have to give a patient a script or orders for a nurse to do any form of medication or procedure, etc, it has to be printed out and signed. That is the law. On the plus side, all Rxs are legible, because they are typed on the computer. No calls from the pharmacy because they can't make out someone's scrawl. It took a while for older docs like to to adapt to the new system (although I was one of the people agitating for it) because we are old farts and have our proven habits of 30 years of work, but we did. The younger generations adapt more readily.

As for your query, the answer is there are some manufactures doing apps and the like for their machines - the makers of the Z1 for instance, only have a smartphone app for reading out and interpreting their data, no PC app (and the app is an iPhone app, no Android or M$ versions),but the two biggest, Philips and Resmed, have yet to embrace that world, although Resmed (and I think Philips) have wi-fi downloads directly to your computer or to the DME on certain machines. But you are dealing with proprietary and potentially sensitive data, so until very strong safeguards are in place to prevent data getting into the wrong hands, I don't think you will see the big makers embrace it. BTW, most every data capable device in our hospital now has a direct interface into the mainframe database to dump any data directly into the patient's file. What we don't yet have is a system that works between hospitals, because each one has proprietary systems, and none with the GPs and specialists. That would make things a lot easier, but would be a security and privacy nightmare.