The state of sleep medicine education in North American psychiatry residency training programs in 2013: Chief resident’s perspective

Objective: To assess the current state of sleep medicine educational resources and training offered by North American psychiatry residency programs. Methods: In June 2013, a 9-item peer-reviewed Sleep Medicine Training Survey was administered to 39 chief residents of psychiatry residency training programs during a meeting in New York. Results: Thirty-four percent of the participating programs offered an elective rotation in sleep medicine. A variety of innovative approaches for teaching sleep medicine were noted. The majority of the chief residents felt comfortable screening patients for obstructive sleep apnea (72%), half felt comfortable screening for restless legs syndrome (53%), and fewer than half were comfortable screening for other sleep disorders (47%). Conclusions: This is the first report in the last decade to provide any analysis of current sleep medicine training in North American psychiatry residency training programs. These data indicate that sleep medicine education in psychiatry residency programs is possibly in decline.