Introduction

Abstract: Sleep disorders are highly prevalent but are under-recognized and under-diagnosed by the majority of health care providers. This article reviews recent studies of sleep medicine education in the United States and abroad and the reasons offered by most instructors for the lack of adequate education at their institutions. Quantity and quality of sleep medicine education have been lacking. Knowledge assessment is an important aspect of educational research, and several instruments for the assessment of sleep knowledge have been developed. A noteworthy development is the Sleep Academic Award program of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. This twenty-site, NIH-funded program has developed model interventions and sleep training curricula that are being widely disseminated. Sleep medicine fellowship training programs have also been established in the past decade and serve as the major vehicle for advanced specialty training. Finally, a number of strategies for introducing sleep medicine topics and issues into the medical curriculum have been proposed. Considering the paucity of publications in this area, our review was not restricted to studies in the past year.

Assessment: Techniques associated with the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders. Neurology, Feb 1992; 42: 269.

Abstract: The objective study of sleep is a relatively recent phenomenon. While confined mostly to research laboratory studies in the early 1950s and 1960s, the recording of human sleep has now emerged as a major clinical tool for the diagnosis and management of specific illnesses related to sleep and wakefulness. The full evaluation of patients with complaints of sleep disorders is multifaceted, involving a detailed history/physical examination, extensive questionnaires, sleep diariedogs, and, often, psychological testing. Many patients are referred for formal sleep studies, which include all-night polysomnography (PSG) and physiologic measures of daytime sleepiness (Multiple Sleep Latency Test [MSLTI or its variant, the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test [MWTI).Neurologists, psychiatrists, pulmonologists, pediatricians, psychologists, surgeons, and various specialists collaborate within sleep centers to deliver multidisciplinary care to patients with sleeprelated disturbances. This clinical effort is often coordinated by an individual specifically trained in sleep disorders medicine. In any given case, the decision for formal sleep studies should be made in conjunction with a sleep disorders specialist.