Clinical Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea – CPAP Workshop for Final-Year Clinical Measurement Physiology Students
A clinical education session on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) was delivered to our final year pre-clinical placement students. The workshop focused on CPAP as the primary treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), a common sleep-related breathing disorder characterised by repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep. OSA is highly prevalent yet remains significantly underdiagnosed, with an estimated 80% of cases undetected. It is a multifactorial disorder marked by recurrent upper airway obstruction during sleep, leading to intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation. These processes contribute to systemic disease through sustained sympathetic activation, systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction.
The session provided students with essential knowledge of the CPAP treatment pathway. It highlighted that the majority of patients on CPAP therapy, numbering in the tens of thousands, are diagnosed by Respiratory Physiologists through sleep studies and receive follow-up care in dedicated CPAP clinics. This critical long-term support is increasingly delivered in partnership with community-based clinical teams from approved CPAP providers.
The workshop was led by four clinical team members from ResMed PEI, who currently care for over 20,000 CPAP patients. They delivered a highly interactive, hands-on session in which students had the opportunity to operate CPAP devices, compare different mask interfaces, and explores barriers to use and troubleshooting strategies. This practical exposure offered valuable insight into the central role Respiratory Physiologists play in the long-term management of sleep disordered breathing.