Sleep Apnea Forum Bringing Power to the Patient
Review Your Doctor, Sleep Lab and Equipment Provider Anonymously
I've been developing www.SleepSearch.com as a tool to help people find the good eggs in the field of Sleep Medicine, and avoid the bad eggs. BUT -- speaking of eggs, we have a chicken and egg problem -- SleepSearch relies heavily on user-generated content, but as of now, the site has precious few users. I want to tell you, the dedicated Sleep Apnea patient, exactly what SleepSearch is, who created it and why it's important for you to contribute to it: SleepSearch.com is the "Yelp of Sleep Apnea." It's a site that the founders of SleepGuide.com conceived of as the first and only place for a patient to find, rate and review all different types of professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of Sleep Apnea. We all know the perplexing array of providers there are in this field, and how variable the quality of these providers are. This is a solution to that problem: it's a way for Sleep Apnea patient themselves to inject some justice into the all too often random ways we wind up with the doctors, sleep labs and equipment supply companies we do -- on SleepSearch.com, good providers will naturally be "voted up" with good reviews and ratings; providers that aren't as competent or interested in their patients' well being will naturally be "voted down" with poor reviews and ratings. While any directory is necessarily limited in that certain information goes stale or contains inaccuracies, our system solves this problem organically by giving patients and providers alike the ability to update/ modify/ delete provider entries. Nor are these modifications accepted blindly -- rather, they go into a moderation queue for the site's administrators to manually verify and approve or reject. The result is that, with user help, the content will always be fresh.
I ask you each to take a moment to find and review your sleep doctor, your equipment supplier, and your Sleep Lab. If your provider isn't there, simply add it at http://sleepsearch.com/providers/new
SleepSearch.com can be an important resource for us all, and for all who come after us. But the site relies on a large user base that cares about the end result to succeed. You all can provide that user base. I am asking you to give it the chance we know it deserves to have.
Tags: doctors, labs, sleep, sleepsearch, sleepsearch.com
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by CleveMed on -
Thumbs-up to you Mike for getting this started. I am confident this community can make it happen!
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Permalink Reply by Amy on -
I appreciate you trying to make this happen. I am sure you will get the followers you are looking for. I have added your website to my website for people looking for good discussions on cpap
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Permalink Reply by Mike on -
thanks, Amy -- we are very proud to listed on your website as a resource for Sleep Apnea patients.
Amy said:I appreciate you trying to make this happen. I am sure you will get the followers you are looking for. I have added your website to my website for people looking for good discussions on cpap
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Permalink Reply by Francisco G. Leyva on -
Well put Mike, we should all hold ourselves accountable for the services and information we provide as clinicians. Here at EZCPAP in Scottsdale we rely heavily on referrals from patients and wouldn't be in business without them. We have also included a link to this site in our monthly newsletter. Keep up all the hard work and thanks for providing a safe and informative place to intermingle as patients and professionals.
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Permalink Reply by Melodie on -
Mike - I will be more than happy to get back in the loop again and help to continue what we had originally discussed about the Sleep Apnea arena.
Thanks for contacting me about this. I've been out of the loop for some time, but am ready to get going again. Just let me know whatever you need for me to do or start doing.
Thanks much,
Mel
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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Mel, as one of the founding members of the site, I am happy to welcome you back into the fold. We could certainly use your help bringing to fruition the plans you and I discussed at the site's inception: putting the patient first in health care generally, and specifically with respect to the sleep disorder we both share: Sleep Apnea. One way we have done this is by sharing information with one another on SleepGuide. The other way I want to do this is similar -- but on www.SleepSearch.com, a place where regular patients can share their reviews of, and experiences with, their doctors, durable medical equipment suppliers and sleep labs. So what you can do is twofold: (1) Please go to www.SleepSearch.com and review anyone you've seen in our directory; (2) Please help me to get the word out about this important resource -- the only way it can meet its potential is with massive user contributions of their reviews and experiences. You need not give your identity on the review -- you can post an anonymous review under an alias by using an alias when you sign up at www.SleepSearch.com. And, like SleepGuide, everything is of course free of charge.
Melodie said:Mike - I will be more than happy to get back in the loop again and help to continue what we had originally discussed about the Sleep Apnea arena.
Thanks for contacting me about this. I've been out of the loop for some time, but am ready to get going again. Just let me know whatever you need for me to do or start doing. Thanks much,
Mel
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Permalink Reply by Sleeping Ugly on
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Mike,
Is there a way to see whether any reviews have been posted for providers that come up in a search of a city without having to click on each provider's name?
I assume that reviews are anonymous?
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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yes -- if the provider's name has stars next to it in the search results, then that provider has reviews (the stars being shown are the average rating); if a provider's name in the search results does not have stars, then no review has yet been posted, and yours will be the first one.
as for the anonymity question, you can create any screen name (iwe call it display name) you choose when you sign up for SleepSearch -- so anonymity is in your hands. we don't care who you are -- it's more what you have to say -- the AUTHENTICITY of what you have to say -- that matters.
Sleeping Ugly said:Mike,
Is there a way to see whether any reviews have been posted for providers that come up in a search of a city without having to click on each provider's name?
I assume that reviews are anonymous?
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Sonia S. on -
Hi Mike,
I keep trying to go to the link you provided above to add my equipment provider info, but when I try to log in I get the message that "Couldn't log you in as (my email address)'. What am I doing wrong?
Sonia
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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hmmm. weird. i set you up manually as a new user. i'll Private Message you with your login credentials.
Sonia S. said:Hi Mike,
I keep trying to go to the link you provided above to add my equipment provider info, but when I try to log in I get the message that "Couldn't log you in as (my email address)'. What am I doing wrong?
Sonia
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Permalink Reply by GERARD ENRIGHT on
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HI Mike,
I am haveing the same problem as SONIA S. "Couldn't log you in as (my e-mail address) What am I doing wrong ?
Mike said:hmmm. weird. i set you up manually as a new user. i'll Private Message you with your login credentials.
Sonia S. said:Hi Mike,
I keep trying to go to the link you provided above to add my equipment provider info, but when I try to log in I get the message that "Couldn't log you in as (my email address)'. What am I doing wrong?
Sonia
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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Gerard, I'll investigate.
GERARD ENRIGHT said:HI Mike, I am haveing the same problem as SONIA S. "Couldn't log you in as (my e-mail address) What am I doing wrong ?
Mike said:hmmm. weird. i set you up manually as a new user. i'll Private Message you with your login credentials.
Sonia S. said:Hi Mike,
I keep trying to go to the link you provided above to add my equipment provider info, but when I try to log in I get the message that "Couldn't log you in as (my email address)'. What am I doing wrong?
Sonia
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