Sleep education in pediatric residency programs: a cross-cultural look.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of education about sleep and sleep disorders in pediatric residency programs and to identify barriers to providing such education. METHODS: Surveys were completed by directors of 152 pediatric residency programs across 10 countries (Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, United States-Canada, and Vietnam). RESULTS: Overall, the average amount of time spent on sleep education is 4.4 hours (median = 2.0 hours), with 23% responding that their pediatric residency program provides no sleep education. Almost all programs (94.8%) offer less than 10 hours of instruction. The predominant topics covered include sleep-related development, as well as normal sleep, sleep-related breathing disorders, parasomnias, and behavioral insomnia of childhood. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that there is still a need for more efforts to include sleep-related education in all pediatric residency programs, as well as coverage of the breadth of sleep-related topics. Such education would be consistent with the increased recognition of the importance of sleep and under-diagnosis of sleep disorders in children and adolescents.

Sleep education in medical school curriculum: a glimpse across countries.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of education about sleep and sleep disorders in medical school education and to identify barriers to providing such education. METHODS: Surveys were sent to 409 medical schools across 12 countries (Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, United States, Canada and Viet Nam). RESULTS: Overall, the response rate was 25.9%, ranging from 0% in some countries (India) to 100% in other countries (New Zealand and Singapore). Overall, the average amount of time spent on sleep education is just under 2.5h, with 27% responding that their medical school provides no sleep education. Three countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Viet Nam) provide no education, and only Australia and the United States/Canada provide more than 3h of education. Paediatric topics were covered for a mere 17 min compared to over 2h on adult-related topics. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there continues to be very limited coverage of sleep in medical school education despite an incredible increase in acknowledgement of the importance of sleep and need for recognition of sleep disorders by physicians.