Survey of Sleep Education Offered by US Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training Programs

Abstract

SESSION TITLE: Medical Education SESSION TYPE: Original Investigation Poster PRESENTED ON: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM PURPOSE: Sleep education in Pulmonary and Critical Care (PCC) fellowships, which serve populations in which comorbid sleep complaints are prevalent, has not been well-studied. This study assesses the prevalence of fellowships providing structured sleep medicine education, and the amount and type of exposure. METHODS: We conducted an online survey among ACGME PCC program directors. The survey was based on the Sleep Education Survey (SES), a peer-reviewed, published survey created by the American Academy of Neurology Sleep Section. It was modified to reflect the respondent group and whether a sleep medicine fellowship or accredited sleep center exists at the respondent’s home institution. The 17-question survey was emailed via Survey Monkey per previously published methods for a total of 5 requests approximately one week apart in January - March 2017 using ERAS program director contact information. RESULTS: Overall, 66 of 142 (46.5%) PCC programs with valid email addresses responded. Taken together, 6 programs (10.5%) reported no sleep-specialized faculty; 32 programs (48.5%) reported 2 to 4 sleep-specialized faculty. Fifty-five (84.6%) programs reported having both an institution-affiliated sleep clinic and laboratory. Thirty-eight programs (57.6%) reported having an ACGME-accredited sleep medicine fellowship at the same institution. Twenty-eight (42%) sleep medicine fellowship programs were located in PCC and 9 (22%) in Neurology. Twenty-five PCC programs (37.9%) were unaffiliated with a sleep medicine fellowship. A required sleep medicine rotation was endorsed by 75.4% of respondents, of 4 weeks’ duration or longer in the majority of programs (78%). About 84% of PCC programs offered a sleep medicine elective. Twenty-one programs (31.8%) reported 10 or more hours of sleep medicine didactics per year, while 56% offered at least 5 hours per year. Both lecture format and sleep clinic/lab exposure were common educational venues. Forty-eight programs (75%) reported having one or more trainees from the last 5 years participate in a sleep-related research project; of these, 38 (79%) of programs had trainees who presented their work at professional meetings and 52% of programs reported that their trainees’ sleep research led to publications. Sixty-four percent (64%) of programs have had a trainee from the last five years go on to pursue sleep medicine fellowship, while 21.9% reported having at least one recent trainee apply for grants in sleep-related research. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of PCC fellowship programs offer dedicated sleep medicine faculty, exposure, and education. In most programs, at least one recent fellow has participated in sleep-related research, leading to presentation and/or scientific publication. While the majority of programs have had one or more fellows pursue sleep medicine specialization, while only a minority of programs reported recent trainees have applied for funding in sleep research. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: While the majority of PCC fellowship programs offer clinical sleep training exposure and potential academic opportunities, a minority of programs have had recent trainees pursue funding for sleep-related research. DISCLOSURE: The following authors have nothing to disclose: Shannon Sullivan, Michelle Cao No Product/Research Disclosure Information