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. 2019 Mar;155(3):554-564.
doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2018.10.024. Epub 2018 Oct 28.

A Sleep Medicine Curriculum for Pulmonary and Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Programs: A Multisociety Expert Panel Report

David A Schulman  1 , Craig A Piquette  2 , Mir M Alikhan  3 , Neil Freedman  4 , Sunita Kumar  5 , Jennifer McCallister  6 , Babak Mokhlesi  7 , Jean Santamauro  8 , Effie Singas  9 , Eric Stern  10 , Kingman P Strohl  11 , Kenneth R Casey  12
Affiliations

A Sleep Medicine Curriculum for Pulmonary and Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Programs: A Multisociety Expert Panel Report

David A Schulman et al. Chest. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary medicine specialists find themselves responsible for the diagnosis and management of patients with sleep disorders. Despite the increasing prevalence of many of these conditions, many sleep medicine fellowship training slots go unfilled, leading to a growing gap between the volume of patients seeking care for sleep abnormalities and the number of physicians formally trained to manage them. To address this need, we convened a multisociety panel to develop a list of curricular recommendations related to sleep medicine for pulmonary fellowship training programs.

Methods: Surveys of pulmonary and pulmonary/critical care fellowship program directors and recent graduates of these programs were performed to assess the current state of sleep medicine education in pulmonary training, as well as the current scope of practice of pulmonary specialists. These data were used to inform a modified Delphi process focused on developing curricular recommendations relevant to sleep medicine.

Results: Surveys confirmed that pulmonary medicine specialists are often responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of a number of sleep conditions, including several that are not traditionally considered related to respiratory medicine. Through five rounds of voting, the panel crafted a list of 52 curricular competencies relevant to sleep medicine for recommended inclusion in pulmonary training programs.

Conclusions: Practicing pulmonary specialists require a broad knowledge of sleep medicine to provide appropriate care to patients they will be expected to manage. Training program directors may use the list of competencies as a framework to ensure adequate mastery of important content by graduating fellows.

Keywords: curriculum development; education; sleep medicine.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram of the Delphi voting process. Not all active statements were addressed during every round. ACGME = Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; GME = Graduate Medical Education.
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