Primary care providers’ practices regarding patient sleep: Impact of integrated behavioral health

Golden, Cosottile, Meadows, Parikh & O'Dell (2022) published “Primary Care Providers’ Practices Regarding Patient Sleep: Impact of integrated behavioral health” in Families, Systems, & Health. I have written before about sleep and about interdisciplinary teams; this work combines the two. Here’s the abstract: 

Introduction: Adequate sleep is crucial for effective functioning. Although many children and adolescents have sleep issues, research indicates pediatric providers rarely address them. No research has examined whether primary care providers (PCPs) who practice within an Integrated Primary Care (IPC) model are more likely to assess sleep concerns than PCPs without IPC. The current study aimed to examine providers’ current practices and knowledge regarding common sleep topics from clinics with and without IPC. Method: PCPs across a large health system were surveyed. Participants were 101 providers across 38 clinics, some within IPC clinics (n = 67), and others not (n = 34). Participants responded to questions regarding current sleep assessment and intervention practices, general sleep, and medications knowledge. Results: Providers reported moderate comfort with behavioral interventions and low comfort with medical interventions. IPC providers were more likely to screen for snoring. Regardless of integration status, PCPs had low medication knowledge scores. Discussion: IPC may enhance some areas of PCPs’ knowledge and comfort with behavioral interventions. PCPs need further training in understanding and implementing interventions for sleep concerns. IPC behavioral health providers may facilitate such trainings and work collaboratively with PCPs to improve patient access to sleep interventions. 

I find it interesting and not surprising that providers are more comfortable with behavioral than medical interventions. The recommendations regarding integrated primary care also support the use of multidisciplinary teams and collaboration between behavioral health and primary care professionals.