The Interdisciplinary Sleep Centre at the “Pfalzklinikum”

The Interdisciplinary Sleep Centre at the "Pfalzklinikum" for Psychiatry and Neurology in Klingenmünster was opened already in 1988 as one of the first sleep laboratories in Rhineland-Palatinate and as 13^th sleep laboratory of the German Sleep Society (DGSM).

It was founded by the medical director of the "Pfalzklinikum", Prof. Dr. Reinhard Steinberg, who, for a long time, was a board member of the German Sleep Society.

The director of the Sleep Centre, Dr. Hans-Günther Weeß, is an active member of the German Sleep Society, he leads work groups and is responsible for the structural quality of sleep centres certified by the German Sleep Society in South Germany.

A particular feature of the sleep centre in Klingenmünster is the multi-professional composition of the team (psychiatrist, neurologist, psychologist, internal specialist, nurses) so that nearly all 88 scientifically known sleep disorders can be diagnosed and treated. The large group of difficulties in falling or staying asleep afflicts on its own approx. 10% of the population. Sleep-related respiratory disorders – the best known is sleep apnoea – occur in 4% and movement disorders, e.g. the restless legs syndrome in 6 % of the population. The Sleep Centre at the "Pfalzklinikum" with its medical-technological equipment and its highly-qualified employees is in a position to also treat less frequent disease patterns, e.g. epileptic seizures during sleep or sleepwalking.

Countrywide and beyond the borders of the Republic of Germany, the Sleep Centre at the "Pfalzklinikum" takes an active part in training physicians and medical staff working in the field of Sleep Medicine (continuing education and additional professional training). Scientific emphasis is put on the pharmacology of sleep, sleep-medical methodology and socio-economical effects of sleep disorders, e.g. reduced performance at work or reduction of the fitness to drive due to sleepiness at the wheel. The scientific results are published at national and international conferences as well as in specialist literature.

In 2001, with subsidies of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Interdisciplinary Sleep Centre at the "Pfalzklinikum" was extended into a huge centre of competence with a total of 10 treatment units and eleven full-time jobs.