Sleep Institute at Harborview

Trying to schedule appointments with the sleep medicine center at Harbourview has been one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had with a doctor’s office. I noticed symptoms of sleep apnea in October of 2014. When I called to schedule an appointment, the soonest they could get me in was December 9^th. At that appointment I watched a video on sleep apnea (which provided pretty much the same information I got on my own from a quick google search), and I met with a provider for about 5 minutes, in which time she told me I should have a sleep test. The soonest they could schedule me for the sleep test was early January. After a few weeks I got a letter stating I had sleep apnea and should call to order a CPAP, followed by a phone call saying that the test was inconclusive and I needed to come in for an in-​lab study. It took me a lot of attempts and time on hold to get someone on the phone to explain this inconsistency to me, but I ended up having to come back in for an in-​lab sleep study in May. Then I waited a few weeks and got a letter to come back in for my results. For that appointment, I paid a sizable copay for a woman to read me the printout of my test results. I then scheduled a followup with the clinic’s otolaryngologist. The soonest they could get me in for that was late September. Then I got a call saying the provider (Dr. Sardesai) had to change her schedule and I should come in a few days earlier. That was fine, but then two weeks later I got a call saying that Dr. Sardesai changed her schedule again and they would have to reschedule me for the end of December.
During this entire period I have been sleeping poorly, falling asleep in meetings and at my desk, and having trouble focusing. I am going to find another provider, and I wish I’d made that decision months ago.
I will say that most of the schedulers I’ve spoken with on the phone and the woman who administered my sleep test were great and very polite. But the overall experience with this clinic has been pretty poor.

I contacted the UW Sleep Institute because of self-​diagnosed symptoms of sleep apnea. About thirty years prior, similar symptoms had been successfully corrected by surgery to remove nasal obstructions. I was hopeful that additional surgery might restore unobstructed nasal breathing.
Upon arrival at the sleep clinic, I was shown a video presentation (really an infomercial) on the benefits of CPAP therapy, the «gold standard treatment for sleep apnea.» There was no presentation of drawbacks or mention of the fact that most patients eventually abandon CPAP therapy because of discomfort and inconvenience. For me the proposed treatment would be worse than the problem.
After watching the video, I spent a night at the sleep lab. The test procedure, polysomnography, resulted in a diagnosis of sleep apnea.
The next recommended step was titration to determine the optimal pressure setting for a CPAP machine. There was no discussion of other possible treatments. During my visit, the UW Sleep Institute focused only on CPAP therapy without adequate consideration of my preferences and sleep habits. In the words of psychologist Abraham Maslow, «I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.»

First problem — their first available appointment is usually two months out, and with a nurse practitioner. She will simply then schedule a sleep study.
Second problem — You’ll get your sleep study results weeks later.
Third problem — They’ll automatically refer you to a homehealth agency to get set up with a CPAP machine. They homehealth agency will quite literally charge you three to four times more than buying one yourself. This is machinery easier to operate than a microwave, and I need a home visit? No. My insurance wouldn’t approve it anyway.
Forth problem — They’ll schedule your follow-​up to make sure the CPAP is working again, about two months later.
So from your first call to getting your CPAP titrated, we’re talking six months. Ridiculous.
On top of that they have no sleep psychologist on staff, and their sleep surgeon is fresh-​out-​of-​residency and doesn’t know what she’s doing. I went to see Dr. Knapp who resolved the problem for me with the correct surgery (ethmoid sinuses, not tonsils, not septum). That was after six months of insanity and tons of medical bills with this place.
The only reason I’m giving two stars instead of 1 is because the sleep tech was a really smart guy. Unfortunately he’s not authorized to diagnose or recommend anything.

I had a good experience — for the most part– with this clinic. But after 5 visits, I had to admit that while the interactions I had were mostly 5 star, a few were unsettling enough to bump this down to 3 average.
Having to use their services to find out if you have apnea, well, it’s no picnic but the staff at the front desk were mostly very helpful and sweet, as were the back office staff for my first visit although I found one of them to be very odd and distracted in a way that really made me wonder if it was something personal causing this strange behavior.
They scheduled a sleep study and on the night I arrived, 3 techs did not show up so I was moved to another room for some reason-​one not as nice as the first-​and it took quite some time for them to come and hook me up. The biggest thing that was difficult for me was that they put some SERIOUS goop in your hair (think Vaseline but thicker) and I would have liked some shampoo to get it out. Hint: bring your own.
My biggest reason for the bump down in stars was that after the overnight test, there was really poor communication regarding the results and follow up options. I am a good advocator for myself so I worked it out but that process needs a change for sure.
After the results, I scheduled a follow up visit with their otolaryngologist and she was truly amazing. She was detailed, kind, thorough and patient with my questions, she explained everything, gave me all the options and WOW! that was a 5 star experience for sure.
I needed some follow up care and saw their speech therapist, who is also top notch. The patient care coordinator for the doc is also so fantastic; totally answering all my questions and getting me set up for what comes next.

This is a Brand New clinic here at Harborview
they just built this building it is a 14-​story building located across the street from the main medical center, and the sleep clinic has the whole 4^th floor to them self’s
so my snoring has gotten so bad that I am about to be single, if I don’t do something about it, so i got a referral to the Sleep Clinic to see what they had to say as the Sleep Right Strips did not work for me
I went in and talked with a Doc about what they had to offer and how this all worked, and to set up for a sleep study to see how bad things really are, well they are not as bad as they could be
I only have mild Sleep Apnea so I don’t really stop breathing like most people I just snore and very loudly at that, I have woken my self up with my own snoring, so I got to watch a video about the sleep study then we scheduled my to come and be hooked up to the probes from hell (actually they are not bad) just a lot of censers to monitor you while you sleep, they record audio and video of you then review it to decide were to go next
so I went it to get my results and found out what my options are, there is a Nighttime dental appliance fitted by a dentist you can wear when you sleep, or the «CPAP» Continuous positive airway pressure device.
there is also surgery they can do, but I don’t think I need that at this time
most insurance companies want you to try the CPAP first, so they sent out a referral to a supply company so I could set up a time and date to go get a CPAP machine
so I now have my machine and it seems to be working, I slept good last night and it sounds like I was not snoring or doesn’t sound like … so lets hope this was the winning ticket