APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

BOS CONJOINT COMMITTEE CERTIFYING EXAMINATION IN SLEEP MEDICINE

All applicants must submit the following:

 1.  Completed application (clearly printed applications only will be accepted)

 2.  Completed Board Registration Form

 3.  Copy of current state medical license for the principal location of clinical practice

 4.  Copy of current AOA membership card or letter from AOA verifying active membership

 5.   $1200 application/examination fee

 Applicants with one year of AOA-approved training in Sleep Medicine completed after July 2008 must also submit the following:

 1.  Copy of Sleep Medicine fellowship certificate

 2.  Letter of recommendation from Program Director in the Sleep Medicine program

 3.  If in an allopathic (ACGME) program, a copy of letter from ACOI verifying registration of the

     training program with the AOA

 4.  If in an allopathic (ACGME) program, a copy of the letter from the AOA granting approval of

the training in Sleep Medicine and that the “Training is Complete.”  (This may be submitted after the exam but must be received prior to the Board submitting your certification to the AOA Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists.)

Applicants applying by means of the Clinical Practice Pathway must also submit the following:

 1.  Verification of 30 hours of CME in Sleep Medicine over the preceding twenty-four (24)

     months prior to application for examination

 2.  Completion of the attestation of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice form by the CEO or Medical

     Director of the Sleep Medicine Laboratory where privileges are granted

 3.  Completion of the following two forms:

             a)  Director of Sleep Laboratory (or chief non-physician administrator if applicant is the

                 director)

             b)  Medical Director (or equivalent) of the hospital of the applicant’s main clinical practice

INFORMATION FOR THE BOS 2011

CONJOINT EXAMINATION FOR CERTIFICATION OF

ADDED QUALIFICATIONS IN SLEEP MEDICINE

Introduction

The Sleep Medicine program for Certification of Added Qualifications is developed by a conjoint effort of the American Osteopathic Boards of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology and Psychiatry, and Opthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology.  This program is designed to recognize excellence among physicians who are specialists in Sleep Medicine.

 This information booklet has been prepared by the AOA/BOS Boards participating in the conjoint examination for its Diplomates who are applying for examination in Sleep Medicine.  The program will have two components:

      A.   Satisfactory completion of training

B.   Successful performance on a comprehensive, one-day examination.

 Requirement for Licensure

A valid, unrestricted license to practice medicine in a state of the United States is required of all candidates.  A photocopy of the medical license in the state of the current practice must be submitted with the application.  Candidates with restricted, suspended or revoked license in any jurisdiction at the time of application, will not be admitted to the examination or be certified.

 Substantiation of Clinical Competence

The application must contain substantiation of the Diplomate's satisfactory clinical competence in Sleep Medicine.  This substantiation must be provided by the program director in the Sleep Medicine fellowship or by two references in a supervisory role over the applicant if applying via the Clinical Practice Pathway.  One of the references must be by the CEO or Director of the Sleep Medicine Laboratory where the applicant has privileges.

 Prerequisites

 A. Training Requirement

Candidates must possess a valid certification certificate by their primary AOA Board and have completed a 12 month AOA approved fellowship in Sleep Medicine which was completed after July 1, 2008.

 B. Clincial Practice Pathway

If applying via means of the Clincial Practice Pathway the applicant must meet the following prerequisites:

            1.       30 hours of CME in Sleep Medicine over the preceding 24 months prior to application for examination.

2.       Possess privileges in a certified sleep medicine laboratory and be able to verify:

a.       Interpretation of a minimum of 200 overnight polysomnographic(PSG) tests and 25 multiple sleep latency(MSLTs) and/or maintenance of wakefulness tests(MWTs) in the period of 2 years prior to application and verify that at least 30% of the applicant’s clinical activity over the preceding 2 years has been dedicated to the practice of sleep medicine; or

b.       Interpretation of a minimum of 500 overnight PSSGs and 50 MSLTs and/or MWTs during the candidate’s career and verify that a portion of the applicant’s clinical activity has been dedicated to the practice of sleep medicine with an accumulation of one year of full-time activity achieved over the preceding 5 years.  

c.    Entry into the Sleep Medicine CAQ examination via the Clinical Practice Pathway will expire with the 2013 examination.

Dates

The date of the Sleep Medicine Examination is August 27, 2011.  A letter requesting to sit for the Examination must be submitted to the applicant’s primary certifying Board during the registration period, which will begin October 15, 2010 and end May 1, 2011.  The completed application must be submitted in toto no later than May 15, 2011.  Any applications postmarked after May 15, 2011, will be assessed a two hundred dollar ($200) late registration fee.  No applications will be accepted after June 1, 2011.  All candidates who have submitted their application prior to the deadline date will be notified whether or not they have been admitted to the examination prior to June 15, 2011.

 Fees

The application/examination fee will be $1200, which must be submitted no later than May 15, 2011.  There is a nonrefundable fee of $100 for withdrawals prior to May 15 and $250 for withdrawals between May 15, 2011and June 1, 2011.  No refund is granted for any withdrawal postmarked after June 1, 2011.

 Address Changes

Registered candidates must notify their Board office, in writing, of any change in address prior to or after the Certifying Examination.  Candidates will be responsible for the cost of payment of a duplicate certificate which has been lost and not returned to the Board, in which the mailing address was not the current updated address of the candidate.

 Location and Time of Examination

The examination will be held on August 27, 2011 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center Hotel, Lombard, IL.  The examination session will begin at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 1:00 p.m.  All candidates must report to the examination room no later than 7:40 a.m.

 Hotel Accommodations

A block of rooms (at a special rate of $129.00 per night) has been reserved for the examination candidates.  To reserve a room you must call the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center Hotel at 1-888-627-9031 and ask for in-house reservations.  When speaking to the reservations clerk, indicate you want to receive the special room rate for the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine.  You must reserve your room by July 15, 2011.  It is suggested you guarantee the reservation with a credit card or one night's deposit.  

 Instructions for Completing the Application Packet

Please read all of the following information carefully before completing the application form.  All of the items on the application forms must be filled out completely or your application will not be accepted.  The application form must be printed or typewritten.  All supporting documents to be submitted with the application are clearly delineated on the enclosed instruction sheet for all applicants.

 Acknowledgment of Acceptance

All candidates whose applications have been accepted will be notified by June 1, 2011.  Each accepted candidate will be issued an examination admission letter which is to be retained and submitted to the proctor at the time of the examination.

 Copyrighted Materials

The Sleep Medicine examination is confidential and copyrighted under the Federal Copyright Act.  Candidates agree not to copy, reproduce, reconstruct by dictation or other means, or disclose examination content in any manner.

 Scoring and Results

Your final score is determined by the number of questions answered correctly.  There is no penalty for guessing.  The minimum passing score reflects an absolute standard developed by the AOA Boards participating in this conjoint examination.  After the exam is given, it will be psychometrically analyzed and evaluated to ensure the reliability of individual results.  Your results will be released and a score report will be mailed to you within 90 days of the date of the exam.  Scores are provided through the mail only.  Copies of your score report will be maintained for one year from the date they were released.  During that period you may obtain a duplicate copy of your score report upon written request and a fee of $25.  Questions regarding exam results and any appeals of the examination must be submitted in writing within 30 days of the date results were released.

Eligibility for Examination

For those candidates applying via the Training Track the period of Board Eligibility will follow the Policies and Procedures of the BOS.  For those Clinical Practice Pathway candidates who sit for examination for the first time in 2009, 2011 or 2013 and fail an examination,  their eligibility to sit for subsequent examinations will expire with the 2013, 2015 and 2017 examinations respectively.

THE EXAMINATION:

 General Description

This examination will be a proctored 5-hour examination consisting of multiple-choice questions of the "one best answer" type.  There will be a total of 200 items on the examination.  The Sleep Medicine Examination will cover the broad aspects of Sleep Medicine that specialists practicing in the field are expected to know.  The examination will assess the candidates knowledge and clinical judgment in aspects of Sleep Medicine required to perform at a high level of competence.  The examination will include but will not be restricted to:

 Fundamentals of sleep including basic sciences related to sleep(physiology, neuroanatomy, etc.), sleep-wake cycles and stages, biologic rhythms, and dreaming; polysomnographic interpretation and scoring including interpretation of PSGs, portable PSGs, MSLTs, and MWTs and assessment of oximetry; technical aspects of operations of the sleep lab including scoring sleep and sleep-related events, scoring MSLTs, perform technical setup and initiation of studies, formal review of sleep-related testing, use and limitations of computerized PSG equipment including transducers and oximeters, administration of oxygen in the laboratory, techniques of application of CPAP/bi-leval PAP, and calibration and operation of PSG recording systems; diagnosis/differential diagnosis/treatment/management/followup of sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep-related breathing disorders, hypersomnia of central origin, circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnias, sleep-related movement disorders, isolated symptoms and apparently normal variants, and other sleep disorders; differential diagnosis of sleep disorders by age including pediatric, adolescent, adult and geriatric age groups; interpretation of pulmonary function testing, imaging procedures, esophageal pH monitoring; sleep center management, ethics and public policy including organizational structure of sleep laboratory, medical director responsibilities, medical record and regulatory requirements of a sleep laboratory and its personnel, sleep laboratory accreditation standards, sleep laboratory policies and procedures, instruction to technicians, published Practice Parameters, and ethical principles of sleep laboratory management. 

Certificates

Those who passed the examination will receive a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sleep Medicine by their primary Board.  All certificates will be time-limited and will be valid for ten (10) years from the date of certification.  The diplomate must maintain a valid certification certificate in their primary specialty or subspecialty in order for the certificate of Added Qualifications in Sleep Medicine to remain valid.  The Sleep Medicine Certificate will become invalid the date that the diplomate's primary or subspecialty certificate becomes invalid.  The certificate of Added Qualifications in Sleep Medicine will be awarded after the AOA Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists gives final approval of the examinati­on process for each can­didate.  This approval process will take approximately six months following the notification of successful completion of the examina­tion.  On written request and payment of a fee of $200, can­didates may obtain res­coring of the examination within a year of receiving the results.  The answer sheets of candidates will be destroyed thirty-six months after ad­ministration of the examination.

Preparation

The Board can make no specific recommendation about study methods, review courses, etc., to prepare for the examination; however, extensive self study of Sleep Medicine in texts and journals and par­ticipation in con­tinuing medical education programs and review courses in Sleep Medicine should be useful.

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