Abstract Introduction There has been a concentrated effort to improve care quality through the formation of interdisciplinary teams to address multifaceted health issues. One such issue, insomnia, has far-reaching implications if not addressed in all its facets. In order to address this concern and prepare clinicians for care coordination, an interdisciplinary educational experience for medical students and health psychology externs has been developed. Methods A four week interdisciplinary hybrid classroom experience has been developed in conjunction with the behavioral sleep medicine and obesity center departments. Third and fourth year medical students are paired with a health psychology graduate extern for both direct patient contact as well as a didactic experiences. The trainees receive lectures from a multidisciplinary staff team around the diagnosis, management, and treatment of insomnia; sleep pharmacotherapy; the impact of substance use on sleep; the effect of meal timing and composition; and optimization of physical activity and timing. Learners apply cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and motivational interviewing under the supervision of the faculty health psychologists during their patient experiences. Results By virtue of creating the experience for the trainees, there has been an increase in interdisciplinary cooperation between the sleep departments and the obesity center's faculty, with a concentrated effort to share education materials for curriculum development. During their direct patient contact experiences, trainees will generate case conceptualization forms that capture the different elements of the patient's experience contributing to their sleep pattern with feedback provided. The learners will also complete a knowledge assessment at the conclusion of the experience on the topics that have been discussed. Data collection around the learner clinical and interdisciplinary competencies is ongoing. Conclusion Although there have been previous studies regarding the value of interdisciplinary care for insomnia, this would set the foundation for a novel combination of an educational opportunity with an expansion of the traditional interdisciplinary care team for treatment of the condition. There is also limited data on interdisciplinary education with direct patient care. An ongoing effort has been undertaken to collect additional data around the patient perception of the impact of interdisciplinary coordination on their experience and trainee confidence to provide interdisciplinary care. Support (if any)
Eapen et al. (2026) studied this question.