Institute for Continuing Education

New Sleep Awareness Program Aimed at Residents and Shift Workers

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify the AASM’s recommended hours of work for hospital residents (S.A.F.E.R).
• List the key points of the AASM’s program for improving sleep hygiene of medical interns.
• List the key aspects of the AASM’s report on the interns’ compliance with compliance with accreditation council for graduate medical education work-hour limits.

Course Information

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) offers an extensively updated and revised version of S.A.F.E.R. (Sleep, Alertness and Fatigues Education in Residency), a tool for educating residents about the effects of sleep deprivation on performance.

The new version includes an expanded PowerPoint presentation with core sections on recognizing sleepiness, the effects of fatigue on medical education and strategies for managing drowsiness.

The updated program came about after researchers at Brown University determined that drowsy residents performed as poorly or worse as someone who had consumed three to four alcoholic beverages. The study is published in a September 2007 issue of JAMA.

Nowhere are the effects of lifestyle on sleep more evident than in shift work disorder, also called shift work change (SWC) and shift lag. As the global marketplace continues to turn the time-to-productivity ratio to its favor, more and more employees are needed to work unconventional shifts. Nearly 20% of employees in industrialized countries are employed in shift work, which requires them to drastically change their sleep habits weekly or even daily.

While there are few statistics for the prevalence of shift work disorder, approximately 20% of shift workers report falling asleep during work, which increases the risk of industrial accidents and decreases productivity. Ironically, shift work can diminish the economic gain it is designed to create.