Reopening Sleep Medicine Services in the Conundrum of an Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global View.

ABSTRACT

The emergence of COVID-19 brought all healthcare services around the globe to immense strain; hospitals abandoned elective care for acute care. Like all other elective services, sleep medicine services suffered a partial deadlock due to the closing down of the sleep disorders diagnostic and therapeutic services, although clinical consultations and follow-ups, carried on remotely, allowed some mitigation. Since there is dire need to resume the services, we tried to formulate the principles and guidelines to work in this exigent healthcare setting. Principles and guidelines are based on epidemiological and infection control guidelines besides recommendations of various healthcare organizations and sleep societies, after a requisite web search to extract the data.