The 14th Annual Sleep Medicine Conference will be held in Louisville on October 26–27, 2012. Sponsored by the Kentucky Sleep Society (KYSS), presentations will examine sleep from both a clinical and an innovative perspective. Keynote speaker, Hon. Mark E. Rosekind, PhD, member of the National Transportation Safety Board, will address how sleep science can enhance transportation safety. Jayme Matchinski, JD, Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLC, will address the status for chain of custody with home sleep testing. Medication use by sleepy drivers will be discussed by Dr. Alan Lankford, chief science officer with Sleep Safe Drivers, Atlanta, Georgia. A new federal transportation bill signed into law in August 2012 is providing the impetus to advocate for safe driving.
Other topics, such as current regulatory standards for managing employees, will be presented by Betty Spohn, MA, Access Wellness Group. Financial expert Terry Crabtree will focus on future financial trends and discuss methods to evaluate and integrate financial monitors to increase fiscal productivity in the practice.
Sleep deprivation and fatigue contribute to the health and well-being of youth and adults. This year the KYSS, under the direction of President Sarah Honaker, PhD, has strategically addressed adolescent and teen sleepiness and the benefits of a later school start time on adolescent sleep, learning, and overall function. Frederick W. Danner, PhD, Department of Education, School and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky, will present “Drowsy Driving” and the challenges inherent in trying to do something about it.
Through the KYSS, members have collaborated with the Pritchard Committee to promote support for legislative and educational initiatives. The Pritchard Committee was organized 14 years ago for promoting legislative action to improve educational initiatives and increase community awareness about educational issues. The KYSS position statement will be released at the annual meeting in October.
“The Sleep Medicine Conference celebrates another year of commitment to our mission of providing nationally recognized education for our healthcare providers,” said KYSS Executive Director Kathryn Hansen, “providing innovative education to practicing professionals traveling from six states, to learn from national, regional, and local experts in sleep medicine.”