Workshop on sleep, fatigue, and medical training

What role does fatigue play in patient safety and medical errors? What can the medical field learn from other industries about effective strategies to offset the impact of fatigue in medical practice and training?

Where will future directions in sleep research lead, and how might they influence public policies regarding fatigue, medical training, and other concerns?

These and other critical sleep-related issues will be the focus of a conference, Sleep, Fatigue and Medical Training: Optimizing Learning and the Patient Care Environment, to be held October 28-29, 2001, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virginia.

Despite the growing concerns and attention to the impact of sleep loss and fatigue on job performance and safety in transportation and other industries, medical education and training have lagged far behind. Scientific evidence regarding the relationship between sleep loss and fatigue and the quality of patient care will be reviewed. In addition, this ground-breaking conference brings experts in sleep medicine, patient safety, medical ethics, medical education, hospital administration, and government policy together with innovators in fatigue management from non-medical settings to explore approaches for addressing the impact of sleep and fatigue on job performance in medical students, residents, and other healthcare workers.

Cosponsors of the conference are the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)/National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Sleep Research Society, and the American Medical Association. The conference is supported by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Among the national sleep experts presenting at the conference are Carl E. Hunt, MD, Director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research; Allan Pack, MB, ChB, PhD, and David Dinges, PhD, both of the University of Pennsylvania; Daniel Buysse, MD, University of Pittsburgh; and Mary Carskadon, PhD, of Brown University. William Dement, MD, PhD, of Stanford University will help facilitate the conference�s concluding remarks.

For more information and to register for the conference, go to www.aasmnet.org/fatigue.htm or contact Charlene Wibben, education coordinator for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, at [email protected] or (507) 287-6006. To interview Dr. Hunt on sleep and performance, call the NHLBI Communications Office at (301) 496-4236.