Sleep Medicine Examination – Requirements and Application for Somnologists
The European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) Board is pleased to announce the 14th Sleep Medicine Examination for Somnologist Certification.
Please find the requirements and basic credentials as well as information about the application process below.
Format & Date
The 2025 Sleep Medicine Examination for Somnologists will take place online only in September 2025.
Composition
The examination will consist of two parts, both of which must be successfully passed in order to qualify for certification.
1. Theoretical Part
The first part is a written test, consisting of 100 single-choice questions (one out of five).
Duration: 120 minutes
Passmark: 60%
2. Practical Part
The second part is focused on practical skills.
Includes sleep staging, event scoring and interpreting sleep studies of screenshots/pictures from PSG recordings and derived parameters, actigraphy, sleep diary, MSLT/MWT, interpretation of analysis of biological samples relevant for sleep medicine (from blood, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid incl. measures for melatonin, iron, HLA, corticol, hypocretin). Regarding all scoring tasks, candidates are expected to achieve an 80% concordance with the panel of experts.
Duration: 90 minutes
Passmark: 60%
Further details can be found in: Penzel et al. (2021). Sleep medicine catalogue of knowledge and skills – Revision. J. Sleep Research (https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13394). Please see Table 2 in this article, it outlines the rough distribution of credits re. questions regarding the sections of the examination.
Requirements
Physicians, Psychologists, Sleep Scientists (with a Master’s degree in science, e.g. biology, physics or other relevant areas) and Physician Assistants, who wish to take the examination should meet the following requirements (please prepare the mentioned documents before starting with the application).
FORMAL QUALIFICATION:
*Possess a Master’s degree in science, e.g. biology, physics or other relevant areas (except Sleep Scientists).
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE:
* The candidate will be required to provide a detailed written declaration from the Sleep Medicine Centre (SMC) Director where the greater part of the training was completed. The declaration must specify satisfactory and independent performance of the following:
- A minimum of 12 months full-time (or equivalent duration if part-time) spent in the SMC. If the applicant has worked in more than one SMC, a minimum period of 6 months must have been spent at one of the centres.
- Extensive experience within their specialised field, with sufficient experience across other sleep-wake disorders to ensure safe and competent practice. This includes specialised evaluation and clinical care of at least 100 patients from the different disciplines of sleep medicine (incl. sleep-breathing disorder, insomnia disorder, hypersomnia, movement disorder, circadian disorder).
- In relation to the assessment and follow-up of sleep disorders, experience should comprise a range of procedures, including:
- Physicians: Clinical interviewing, use of diagnostic criteria and classification systems, use of sleep diaries, questionnaires and rating scales, psychometric evaluation as well as physiological monitoring.
- Psychologists: Clinical interviewing, use of sleep diaries, questionnaires and rating scales, psychometric evaluation as well as physiological monitoring.
- Sleep Scientists: Interpretation of sleep diaries, questionnaires and rating scales, psychometric evaluation as well as physiological monitoring. The applicant should have experience of actigraphy and polysomnography (with hook-up, nighttime surveillance and scoring, interpretation and reporting of studies), ambulatory cardio-respiratory recording, and Multiple Sleep Latency Testing (MSLT) or Maintenance of Wakefulness Testing (MWT) procedures.
- In relation to treatment, the applicant (except Sleep Scientists) should have generic skills, including patient education, treatment delivery, progress review, provision of motivation and support, in addition to having extensive experience within their professional discipline.
- Accordingly, it is recognised that experience with treatment modalities will vary (e.g. Physician – pharmacotherapy, CPAP; Psychologist – cognitive behavioural therapy, other related therapeutic procedures; Sleep Scientist – author in peer-reviewed articles on sleep).
- Of the minimum 100 cases evaluated, at least 75% will involve active management of a treatment episode or episodes and monitoring of patient progress and outcome. This consideration applies to both physicians and psychologists.
It is recognised that Sleep Scientists may not have a clinical licence, or may have different roles within an SMC. Nevertheless, equivalent levels of experience and expertise in sleep medicine should be demonstrated in the application and letter of support.
Some of the aforementioned experience and competencies may be demonstrable through periods of formal study and training on approved Sleep Medicine courses which have a practical component. Such experience and/or qualification should be specified by the applicant.
THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE
* The applicant must demonstrate knowledge of the topics specified in the Catalogue of Knowledge and Skills. This may be achieved by a record of attended courses, or through a university or national sleep medicine degree or certification.
* Alternatively, a detailed reference letter from another ESRS Somnologist may be submitted.
Further details can be found in:
- Pevernagie et al. EU Guidelines for the Certification of Professionals in Sleep Medicine: Report of the Task Force of the ESRS. J. Sleep Research (2009) 18, 136-141. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2008.00721.x
- Penzel et al. Sleep medicine catalogue of knowledge and skills – Revision. J. Sleep Research (2021) 30, https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13394. Please see Table 2 in this article, it maps the rough distribution of credits re. questions regarding the sections of the examination.
Main Readings
The ESRS Sleep Medicine Textbook 2nd Edition (2021) is the main recommended reading for this examination. Additional readings may be provided in advance by the Examination Subcommittee. All interpretations in the practical part and some questions in the theoretical part will be based on the 2023 AASM Scoring Manual Version Version 3.
Additionally, applicants must also:
- Provide names and email addresses of 2 references, who are not applying for this examination at the same time, preferably from another European country. One should be an ESRS member.
- *Submit a detailed CV with relevant education and employment history.
- *Submit scanned copies of relevant qualifications, and meeting attendance certificates as above.
- Be a current ESRS member at the time of application and examination. (If you are not an ESRS member please visit https://esrs.eu/register/).
- Pay the examination fee (payable by credit card, PayPal or bank transfer). The online examination fee is € 600.- EUR (included is a non-refundable 90.- EUR administration fee, payable on submission of the application). Once you are notified that your application has been accepted, you will be registered bindingly by paying the remaining examination fee of 510.- EUR.
- Read and accept the examination rules and settings.
Please prepare the aforementioned required documents (marked with *) before starting the application. The documents can be uploaded as PDF-files or JPEG-files within the online application form. Any other file formats, f.ex. MS WORD-files will be automatically rejected by the online application system. The name of the PDF-file must include the name of the applicant and the content of the document. We recommend putting all documents in one pdf-file. The size of the PDF-file should not exceed 5 MB). Other candidates that feel they may fulfil the eligibility criteria, please email the ESRS Examination Office at exam@esrs.eu.
Application Guidelines
Submission:
Applications will only be accepted from the online application form.
Application Period:
Applications will be accepted from 1 December 2024 until 31 January 2025.
Evaluation:
Applications will be evaluated by the Examination Subcommittee.
Notification:
Applicants will be notified of their application status by the end of March 2025.
Special Cases
Repeaters:
All those, who missed the examination passmark in one or both parts of the examination, are allowed to repeat the failed part(s) of the examination once, at the next examination date free of charge and without a renewed application.
- Repeaters must still be a full or reduced ESRS Individual member at the time of the examination.
- An update from onsite to online examination fee might be charged.
- Repeaters are required to confirm their participation by email.
Shifters:
Any accepted applicant, who did not sit the examination for personal reasons, is allowed to postpone their participation once to the next available examination, free of charge and without a renewed application.
- Shifters must still be a full or reduced ESRS Individual member at the time of the examination.
- An update from onsite to online examination fee might be charged.
- Shifters are required to confirm their participation by email.
Qualification
Successful candidates will be awarded the ESRS qualification title of “Somnologist” with one of the following specifications:
- Somnologist – Expert in Sleep Medicine
- Somnologist – Expert in Behavioural Sleep Medicine
- Somnologist – Sleep Scientist
- Somnologist – Physician Assistant
Examination Grant
Six travel grants will be awarded to support accepted examinees. Interest in this should be indicated on the same online application form for the examination during the application period. More details on the grant conditions and requirements can be found here.
Contact
Email the ESRS Examination Office at exam@esrs.eu for any further questions.