Professional/Short course Introduction to Sleep Medicine

Content

The module syllabus typically includes the following topics:

• Common respiratory and non-respiratory sleep disorders, and considerations when conducting clinical assessments. Including the pathophysiology of sleep disorders, signs and symptoms, risk factors that may need further investigation if suspected as an underlying cause, and factors that could influence the choice or outcome of a particular test.
• How to perform a clinical history and how to conduct a clinical assessment and examination, in relation to sleep medicine.
• Clinical investigations and subjective assessments for sleep disorders, including application, diagnostic criteria and interpretation of results, with reference to national and international guidelines.
• The principles of patient-centred care, including confidentiality, informed consent, patient autonomy and decision-making, the social, psychological and emotional aspects, communication methods, and multi-disciplinary team working.
• Awareness of physiological deterioration - how and when to refer to a senior emergency medical team.
• Introduction to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and vigilance critical occupation requirements.
• Quality of practice, including personal and professional wellbeing, equality and diversity (equal access), audit principles and methods.

Learning and Teaching

The module will be delivered through a combination of online learning and teaching, and on-campus sessions. On-campus sessions will be taught over a series of block weeks and will include both theoretical and practical laboratory sessions.

Assessment

Assessment for this level 7 (Masters level) module comprises two parts:

• An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
• A set exercise providing real-world scenarios that will enable you to investigate the sleep disorder in the patient, based on knowledge of the symptoms, and critical interpretation and evaluation of the clinical results.