Psychiatric Residents’ Exposure to the Field of Sleep Medicine

Psychiatrists have made significant contributions to the sleep field, but over time the visibility of psychiatrists within this field may be decreasing. A brief survey to evaluate sleep education, faculty, resident recruitment trends, and career prospects in sleep medicine for graduating psychiatrists was sent to the 177 directors of U.S. general psychiatric residency programs. Responses were received from 98 (66%). Most programs (82%) offer didactic lectures about sleep. Fifty-two programs (44%) provide a sleep medicine rotation; 10 programs had previously discontinued sleep electives. Most program directors (73%) agreed that sleep medicine was a viable career option for graduating psychiatric residents. Nonetheless, few recent psychiatry graduates have entered the field. Fewer psychiatric residency programs offer sleep electives than in the past, although most still provide didactics. Over time, this decrease in educational opportunities may result in few newly trained psychiatrists entering the sleep field.