Sleep education in pediatric residency programs: A cross-cultural look

Abstract

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. © 2013 Mindell et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.