PHILADELPHIA –- The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has created the first post-graduate program to focus on sleep and sleep disorders.

The graduate post-master’s certificate in sleep is a one-year program that offers an interdisciplinary approach to sleep medicine, combining online courses with clinical experiences and preparing students to manage 80 sleep disorders.

Courses will cover sleep deprivation, major sleeping disorders and their symptoms, managing sleep disorders, insomnia management and cognitive behavioral therapy to help treat insomnia.

“As more nurses, especially nurse practitioners, become an essential component of the sleep health team, they will need a more comprehensive background on sleep and sleep disorders, which this program will provide,” Terri Weaver, a professor in Penn Nursing who helped develop the program, said.

Through collaboration with the Sleep Centers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Penn Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, the courses will give students the opportunity to work with other health care professionals in Sleep Medicine.