Difference between revisions of "OSCAR Preferences"

Revision as of 10:33, 10 June 2019

This article is part of the official OSCAR software project. (OSCAR Help)

Introduction

This article is part of the suite of OSCAR help articles. See OSCAR Help.

• This page explains how to set various user preferences in OSCAR.
• Acknowledgement: Much of the material in this help system has been taken and/or adapted from RobySue's Beginner's Guide to SleepyHead

Selecting preferences

Go to the menu and select File | Preferences. The first page of the Preferences panel will open.

Import

While looking at the Import tab of the Preferences panel, there are only two settings for a new user to really worry about:

• Day time split. If you work shifts or often sleep past noon, changing this allows all your sleep data for one "night" to appear on the same day instead of being split across two days. NOTE: Day time split is not available when you import data from a Resmed machine into OSCAR. This choice was intentional since disabling Day time split is needed to make it possible for OSCAR to get at the Resmed's summary data.
• Create SD card backups during Import. Checking this option will cause OSCAR to keep a copy of your SD card's raw data on your computer (typically in a subdirectory of your OSAR data folder). Checking this will make it easier to reimport the data if it becomes necessary. This is highly recommended, and is the default for Resmed machines.

All other settings on this page can be left at the default settings until you're more comfortable with OSCAR.

CPAP

CPAP clock drift

Clock Drift allows you to correct errors in your CPAP machine's internal clock. This will normally only apply to Philips Respironics machines, which do not have a facility for the user to set the internal clock. The best way to do this is to record your start-time, and reset the clock drift the next day using the CPAP Clock Drift. Time offsets may be positive (advance time), or negative (move time back). For example, if your start time is 10:00 PM and the OSCAR charts show a starting time of 08:15, you need to move the time ahead +01:45. If the starting time on the charts shows 00:10:00, the time would be moved back -01:50:00.

Calculate unintentional leaks when not present

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Custom CPAP user event flagging

The user can cause OSCAR to flag events which do not fall within the normal definitions of apnea or hypopnea. For example a reduction in breathing which lasts 9 seconds is not usually flagged, but a 10 second event is flagged. By selecting user defined events you can cause OSCAR to flag reductions of any percentage and any duration.

Preferred major index

You may select AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) or RDI (respiratory disturbance index) as the main event index to be reported in OSCAR.

Compliance defined as

'Compliance' is a measure of how well you are adhering to the prescribed therapy. For CPAP it's important that you achieve a set minimum number of hours therapy per night. The default is 4 hours, as recommended by most machine manufacturers and as required by most insurers in the US.

Flag leaks over threshold

This setting will show a red line in the leak graph on the daily page, to help you see when leaks are excessive. The default is to have this checked and the default value for the redline is the ResMed value of 24 L/min. If you are using a ResMed S9 or S10, it's recommended that you make sure Show Leak Redline is checked. If you are using a different machine, this may be a useful option for you, but you will need to change the value for the redline to suit your machine.

For more information on leaks, see the following links:

• [Data Interpretation - Leaks]
• [OSCAR - leaks]
• [Leak rate graph - a closer look]

Enable unknown events channels

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AHI/Hour graph time window

The AHI/Hour graph on the daily page gives you a rolling average indication of how many events have occurred in the previous hour. The default is to have the box by Zero Reset unchecked. Leaving the box unchecked tells the AHI/hour graph to keep a running total of the number of events (OAs + CAs + Hs) that have happened in the last 60 minutes. To make the AHI/hour graph behave like the ResScan AHI/Hour graph, you need to check the Zero Reset box; then the AHI count is set back to 0 at the top of every hour.

Preferred calculation methods

This setting allows you to specify how the various indications will be calculated, eg whether the middle index will be calculated as an average or median. On Resmed machines these selections are not available.

Oximetry

Events

The events page allows the user to define which 'events' will be shown in the OSCAR daily and overview pages. It also allows the events to be redefined, with new labels, colours and descriptions. However it is suggested the default values be retained unless you have a good reason to change them.

Note that not all the options will be available on a given machine.

The Events page works in conjunction with the event flag selector on the Daily page (see OSCAR_Organization_-_Daily_Page )

Waveforms

The Waveforms page allows the user to define which graphs will be shown in the OSCAR daily and overview pages. It also allows the graphs to be redefined, with new labels, colours and descriptions. However it is suggested the default values be retained unless you have a good reason to change them.

Note that not all the options will be available on a given machine.

The Waveform page works in conjunction with the chart selector on the Daily page (see OSCAR_Organization_-_Daily_Page )

General

The only setting on the General page is a reminder to remove your SD card from the computer and put it back into the CPAP machine. If this is selected, OSCAR will give you a notification when you exit the program.

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