Proud To Be An RPSGT

(originally published 06/30/2011 at brpt.org)

I don’t know that I have ever been more proud to be part of the BRPT volunteer leadership team than I was at Sleep 2011 in Minneapolis earlier this month. For two and a half days, my colleagues on the BRPT Board – all volunteers, all offering their personal time to support BRPT and our credential holders – spent hours in the BRPT booth on the Sleep 2011 exhibit floor. They were there to talk with our credential holders and our candidates: to help them through the RPSGT recertification process, to talk openly and candidly about the launch of an exam for sleep technologists through ABSM, and to share their personal pride in the RPSGT credential as we officially launched the “Proud to Be an RPSGT” campaign.

The response my colleagues on the BRPT Board of Directors and I received was remarkable: literally hundreds of RPSGTs visited our booth, eager to share their great pride in the credential that has shaped their career in sleep and to commit to continued support of the credential in the years to come. If you were unable to join us in Minneapolis and didn’t pick up a “Proud to Be an RPSGT” button or win a coveted “Proud to Be an RPSGT” t-shirt, check our website over the next few weeks as we launch an expanded online store, stocked to help you celebrate your pride in your RPSGT credential.

We do listen to our credential holders, in person at every opportunity, on the telephone, by email and on social networking sites and professional message boards. I have read a small number of posts on those message boards recently that have underscored for me some misconceptions that remain about the nature of BRPT as an organization.

BRPT is not a membership organization; we are a credentialing body. Our core mission is to develop and deliver a credentialing exam for sleep technologists according to best credentialing practices: a credentialing exam that will be widely respected within the allied health disciplines and by the public we serve. Our credential holders pay no annual dues; unlike several of the most prominent allied health credentialing programs, we do not require an annual fee to maintain the RPSGT credential. Since its inception, the overwhelming percentage of BRPT revenue has been generated by exam fees. The responsibility of the BRPT Board of Directors is to assure that revenues are directed to the enhancement of the BRPT credentialing program, and that sufficient funds are built up and retained in reserves to assure the long-term stability of our credentialing program.

Careful stewardship of BRPT resources has enabled us to maintain our reserves at a level well within best practices recommended for non-profit organizations. At the same time, we have channeled revenues back into the credentialing program, enabling us to move the RPSGT exam to an on demand model, to develop and deliver the RPSGT exam at the state of the art, to build an enhanced online presence to serve our stakeholders, and to build out a recertification tracking tool offered to our credential holders at no charge. We benefit from literally thousands of volunteer hours devoted annually to the development of the BRPT exams and to the other programs of BRPT. Our organization has for many years been administered by a three-person staff, housed within an association management company – a management model which has, year after year, enabled us to reduce our operating overhead by 25-30% compared to operating as an organization providing it’s own staffing and daily operations. At the same time, our management model has enabled us to operate as a strong, independent credentialing body, without the direct influence of a parent organization. As a point of reference, the AAST, a membership organization, has chosen a similar management model, though their choice has been to be managed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.


So thank you for your comments, questions and continued engagement in the BRPT credentialing program. I value your input and am very proud to serve as BRPT president.


Janice East, RPSGT, R. EEG T.

BRPT President