Sleep Medicine Psychiatry. 4 Credit Hours

Catalog description

Learning Objectives: Obtain sleep history in compassionate, caring and emphatic manner. Perform focused clinical examination with skilled bedside manners and respect for patient's privacy and dignity. Demonstrate basic understanding of common sleep disorders and their impact on health and well-being. Understanding of basic sleep physiology and neurotransmitters involved in sleep and wake regulation. Understanding of pharmacology of commonly used sleep and wake promoting medications. Basics of polysomnographic testing. Understanding of different sleep stages and EEG features. Describe and discuss Spielman's 3P model of insomnia. Brief Description: Sleep medicine is a relatively new medical discipline that has grown tremendously and has become an independent discipline over the last 30 years. Sleep is a fundamental part of our lives, and about one-third of our life is spent sleeping. It is a multidisciplinary field with overlap with psychiatry, neurology, ENT and pulmonology. Asking about sleep is an integral part of a psychiatric consultation. Almost all of the psychotropic medications have an effect on sleep architecture. Understanding sleep can help enhance comprehension and understanding of psychiatric illness. Many psychiatric patients have comorbid sleep disorders and vice versa. There is a need for sleep medicine trained physicians; in recent years an increasing number of residents are pursuing further training in sleep medicine. The sleep medicine elective at the University of Texas School of Medicine is a flexibly structured clinical experience for clinical students. The course consists of various experiences in the (1) sleep medicine outpatient clinic (2) in a 4 bed sleep laboratory at the VA medical center and (3) at the University Hospital affiliated sleep lab and clinic. Students will receive an introduction to common sleep disorders including insomnia, parasomnia, sleep related breathing disorders, hypersomnias and sleep related movement disorders. There will be an opportunity to learn how to obtain a sleep history and perform a focused sleep related examination. Students will observe board certified physicians every other week interpret polysomnograms, multiple sleep latency tests and actigraphy. This four-week elective is tailor made to fit the interest, learning needs and aspirations of the student. At times, opportunities will be available to spend time with a sleep psychologist learning basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia and dental sleep exposure. Prerequisites: Successful completion of the internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology clerkships.