Johns Hopkins physicians develop mobile app to identify common sleep disorders

Sleep physicians at Johns Hopkins University have developed a mobile app to help health care providers screen and counsel patients with the most common sleep disorders, according to a press release.

“Not everyone has the time or interest to get certified in sleep medicine,” Charlene Gamaldo, MD, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, said in the release. “Nonetheless, this app can serve as a novel tool that allows all providers to supply important sleep information to patients in a way that is conducive to their work and learning preferences.”

Gamaldo and colleague Rachel Salas, MD, worked with an interdisciplinary team of experts to develop MySleep101 to make information more accessible manner for providers who use mobile devices and tablets in practice.

Basic information on the seven common disorders linked with poor sleep quality including hypersomnia, sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome will be available to users of the app. The app consists of short educational video clips on the basic concepts of sleep and findings from recent scientific research. Clinical features, symptoms and risk factors linked with certain sleep disorders, as well as treatment and management strategies are all communicated in the app.

Salas recommends physicians use the app to better their sleep quality and cited studies suggesting that the more a care provider follows healthy practices, the more likely they are to communicate those benefits to patients.

“We need to make sleep a priority for our patients and ourselves,” Salas said in the release. “Our goal is to educate our colleagues that sleep is important and that it impacts our patients’ quality of life and morbidities.”