What is a necessary knowledge base for sleep professionals?
Sleep medicine is multidisciplinary, and sleep medicine professionals should be trained to evaluate and treat all 88 sleep disorders. Sleep medicine specialists require a fund of knowledge that goes beyond what is obtained during a pulmonary fellowship. Skills required for a pulmonary sleep professional include: sleep medicine, neurobiology, psychiatry, neuro-psychology, neurology, pediatrics, and even limited exposure in otolaryngology, oral maxillofacial surgery, and dentistry. There is a paucity of published information concerning curricular requirements. Required skills for a sleep professional include proficiency in the clinical skills of sleep medicine as well as the technical skills of polysomnography. There is a very large knowledge content area requirement in both the basic sciences of sleep and the clinical aspects of sleep medicine. There are also important clinical skills content areas. As with all medical professionals, sleep professionals should have the highest ethical standards and a strong sense of responsibility toward their patients. A sleep medicine professional also has to be knowledgeable about administrative and legal aspects specific to sleep medicine. This essay reviews a sleep professional knowledge base model with emphasis on the requirements for a pulmonary sleep professional.