Learning Needs about Sleep Disorders in Members of the Basic Health Team

Abstract

Introduction: Learning needs about sleep disorders are important for members of the basic health team, as it is a frequent entity in the population and generally addressed during the training of health professionals. They constitute the starting point for the search for pedagogical solutions, to contribute to the qualitative transformation of health services, and their timely identification, a transcendental tool of permanent education.

Objective: To identify the learning needs about sleep disorders, in doctors and nurses of the basic health teams.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was completed in West community clinics in Playa municipality, Havana, Cuba, from January to June 2019. The studied population were 106 doctors and nurses, from the basic health teams, from the community clinics. Through simple random sampling, 12 doctors and 10 nurses were selected, who had a survey designed by the researchers and validated by piloting and expert judgment. To process the information, absolute frequencies and percentages were used.

Results: A hundred percent of the doctors and nurses ignored the main mechanisms of sleep regulation and they did not know the neurotransmitters linked to the sleep-wake cycle. All (n = 22) werer unaware of the risk of insomnia and they were not up-to-date in the treatment of this disorder.

Conclusions: There was evidence of a lack of knowledge of doctors and nurses about sleep disorders, especially with regard to its architecture, as well as the clinical-epidemiological, evaluative and comprehensive treatment perspective of this disorder.