Fellowship

[deleted682700]

How do program directors select candidates into pain fellowship?
Do u need to have research papers published?
How about rotation in pain? Are there any avenues for rotation for practicing physicians?
How about letters of recommendation? Which letters and from whom?
Which programs are easier to get into for the older physician who want career change?
Any non accredited programs? Are there programs that give credit for the months that you rotate with them without getting paid?
Are there any international training spots say in London?
Thanks

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[jollygoodfellow]

who knows? I have research papers published, rotations in pain, good letters of rec, experience, advanced degrees etc. I think they want people who are easy to teach straight out of residency with good test scores. That's it.
I will be looking at non accredited programs after the match I'm sure.

 

[RM38]

If you are going to look at unaccredited spots you should start now. Most of them try and lock down applicants before the match to try and steal them from the programs in the match. At least in the PM&R world some places will start offering spots this month. Not sure about the Anesthesia based ones though as I don't even really know how many are even out there.

As for the OP, it seems this year is pretty competitive and I think no one can tell you the exact formula to match, but the better your app looks the better off you are . Being at a Residency with a home fellowship program helps as you can get letters from academic faculty that know people from various other programs and support you through the application process. Also if they like you at your home program there is a good chance you can stay there. Being published helps, but not required to get interviews. Research participation I would assume is a must though. I would also think experience/Pain rotation would also be a must as they will want to see that you have at a certain level of baseline knowledge and experience. For older physician wanting a career change or London programs I really can't help you, but there may be others that can give you better information than me. Programs will not/cannot give you credit for unpaid months as I think that is against ACGME rules. Unaccredited programs exist and you would have to look up a list of those which I think is on either this or the PM&R forum somewhere. LORs should preferentially be from academic attendings, with at least one or two from Pain Faculty and one from PD/Dept Chair from your residency. ITE/SAE probably matters a little bit too, but I really don't know how much.