title: A step out of the dark: improving the sleep medicine knowledge of trainees.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Over 40-million Americans are undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or untreated for sleep disorders. Despite the growing need to integrate sleep medicine knowledge into the medical education curriculum, educational leaders have struggled to incorporate contemporary medical topics such as sleep medicine into the already packed curricula. We set out to examine the efficacy of an online, self-paced, sleep medicine learning module as an educational tool for medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 87 Johns Hopkins medical students. Participants were randomly assigned to the sham module (SM, n=40) or learning module (LM, n=47). The efficacy of the tool was assessed based on changes in performance (pre- and post-module completion) on a validated sleep knowledge questionnaire (the Dartmouth Sleep Knowledge and Attitude Survey).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Improvement in overall sleep knowledge, as measured by the Dartmouth Sleep Knowledge and Attitude Survey, was significantly higher in the LM group compared to the SM group (F(1,84)=9.71, p<.01, η(2)=0.10). Although the SM group's improvement was significantly lower than the LM group, within-subject comparisons did show improvement from their pre- to post-assessment scores as well.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A self-paced learning module is an effective educational tool for delivering sleep medicine knowledge to medical students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Neuro-Sleep Division, 600 North Wolfe St., Meyer 6-119, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States. rsalas3@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Rachel E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Salas
authors.forename: Alyssa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gamaldo
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Collop
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gulyani
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Paula M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Aruna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Charlene E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Gamaldo
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056508:Sleep Medicine Specialty / Q000193:education*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D013337:Students, Medical