The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) is pleased to announce that the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has approved the ABAs application for sponsorship of subspecialty certification in Sleep Medicine.
Applicants who have completed training in anesthesiology in an ACGME-accredited core residency training program after July 1, 2009, will be required to have further successfully completed an ACGME-approved sleep medicine fellowship in order to qualify for the subspecialty certification process in sleep medicine. The applicant must provide documentation from the program director that the fellowship was satisfactorily completed. The applicant must be actively providing sleep medicine care at least one day per week. A letter to the ABA from the current Department Chair attesting to the extent and quality of the applicants sleep medicine practice will also be required.
Applicants who completed training prior to July 1, 2009 may be eligible to apply for the sleep medicine examination if they have been certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine or if they have provided attestation of 12 months of full time post training practice experience in sleep medicine. Practice experience must include the clinical care of patients with sleep disorders, accumulated over a maximum of five years prior to application for examination. The clinical practice must involve a minimum experience of 400 patient evaluations, as well as interpreting and reviewing the complete raw data of 200 polysomnograms and 25 multiple sleep latency tests. This will be demonstrated by a letter from the applicants Department Chair or other institutional official certifying that the applicants clinical efforts are devoted to the practice of sleep medicine, at least to this extent. This application process for those who completed training prior to July 1, 2009, (grandfathering) will be time-limited for the 2011 and 2013 examinations only.
