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March 2013 – Reports – Education Committee

Published in: ESRS Newsletter, March 2013

ESRS Education Committee (EduComm)

Members:
Zoran Dogas (Chair), Roberto Amici, Claudio Bassetti, Colin Espie, Pierre-Hervé Luppi, Stefan Mihaicuta, Thomas Penzel, Dirk Pevernagie, Debra Skene

The Education Committee has started its work and completed its membership by including representative of EC ANSS Stefan Mihaicuta and the secretary of the ESRS board Pierre-Hervé Luppi.

The first steps were undertaken toward creation of the ESRS Standard European Education Curriculum in Sleep, based on the ESRS Catalogue of Knowledge and Skills (CK&S) for Sleep Medicine Experts, Non-medical Sleep Experts, and Sleep Technologists, by defining five e-learning Modules and appointing the sleep experts who will serve as Task forces for each Module.

To achieve the aim of creating the teaching materials for ESRS examination, the EduComm will work closely with the Sleep Medicine Committee (SMC), from which it will receive inputs on the format of the next examination of sleep experts in Tallinn 2014, which will form the basis for the format of the European textbook of sleep under working title “Sleep Medicine – ESRS Examination Review”. The sections of the textbook will follow the sections of the CK&S. Claudio Bassetti, Zoran Dogas and Philippe Peigneux are proposed to take editorial roles, and all EduComm members will take part as sections editors. Brigitte Knobl will provide administrative support, with assistance from Maria Wiechmann and Mariafranca Tassielli.

Due to limited time frame, the production of the book and the curriculum should be run in parallel, and inputs from the Task forces for each Module are essential for the successful development of both projects.

Initial steps were coordinated with the ESRS board in development of the e-learning platform Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, a free source e-learning software platform) with intention to link this platform to the official ESRS web site. Also, several technical options are being explored for procedures of reviewing and compiling the textbook.

Another important goal of the EduComm is to define the Sleep Training Centres (STCs). This project overlaps to a certain degree with the accreditation of Sleep Medicine Centres, which is under revision by the SMC. Currently the SMC is working on the revision of the 2006 Accreditation of Sleep Medicine Centres Guidelines. The review may take into consideration to describe STCs according to the EduComm’s definition.

Since the collaboration of the EduComm with other parties is very important, it will be involved with the development of the ERS-ESRS Task Force results on educational issues, as well as in developing similar collaboration of the ESRS with the European Neurological Society (ENS).

The EduComm global tasks are the development of educational initiatives, as well as the establishment and recognition of educational curricula. It is anticipated it will grow into the European Sleep Academy.

Zoran Dogas