European guidelines for the accreditation of Sleep Medicine Centres
STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE EUROPEAN SLEEP RESEARCH SOCIETYAbstractObjective：This document describes guidelines for accreditation of Sleep Medicine Centres in Europe.These guidelines are the result of a consensus procedure，in which represent atives of the European Sleep Research Society （ESRS） and representatives of different European National Sleep Societies （ENSS） were involved.The information obtained during different rounds of consultation was gathered and processed by the members of the Steering Committee of the ESRS.The scope of the guidelines is to define the characteristics of multidisciplinary Sleep Medicine Centres （SMCs），in terms of requirements regarding staff，operational procedures and logistic facilities.Accredita tion of SMCs is proposed to be the responsibility of the individual ENSS.The Accreditation Guidelines may thus be considered an instrument for the national societies to develop new or standardize existing accreditation questionnaires，as well as procedures for visiting the site，drafting the accreditation report，and finally，granting the accreditation.The Accreditation Guidelines are meant to be a line of action，that ideally should be followed as close as possible，but that may be subject to certain exceptions，depending on local customs or regulations.
Key Wordsaccreditation，europe，guidelines，sleep medicine
INTRODUCTION
A clinical centre for the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of sleep disorders is called a Sleep Medicine Centre （SMC） in this document.The accreditation of SMCs is essential to ensure and improve patient care.The voluntary accreditation of sleep laboratories in Germany has been carried out by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin （DGSM），by means of a questionnaire and site inspection，since 1989.The initiation of this procedure was based on a consensus publication （Penzel et al.，2000），and subsequent papers dealing with specific aspects of the accreditation process （Fischer et al.，1999； Gugger，1998； Niewerth and Wiater，2000； Penzel et al.，1993，1994，1998； Peter et al.，1995； Wiater and Niewerth，2000）.Other European countries have been successful as well in developing specific accreditation procedures for their SMCs （Bassetti，2000； Gugger，1998）.At a meeting of delegates of the European National Sleep Societies （ENSS） in Mallorca in 2004，under the auspices of the European Sleep Research Society （ESRS），it was decided that an accreditation process，based on the DGSM guidelines，but taking into account similar experiences in other European countries，should be developed to form the basis of a Europewide voluntary accreditation procedure.A preliminary version was drafted after obtaining input from different ENSS.This version was subsequently reviewed by representatives of the ENSS at the business meeting of the ESRS in Bayrischzell，Germany （April 2005）.The revised draft manuscript was then circulated to all ENSS for comments，and subsequently reworked，taking into account the recommendations that were received.The final document was reviewed and approved by the Executive Board of the ESRS.