Psychiatrist in interventional pain

[LoveMedicine100]

can psychiatrists do a fellowship in interventional pain management? If they do can they find a job???

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[lobelsteve]

can psychiatrists do a fellowship in interventional pain management? If they do can they find a job???

Lots of threads on this and yes and yes.

But everyone can do pain it is just harder if you aren't Anes or PMR to get a foot in the door.

 

[Aether2000]

You can be a geneticist and take a one year pain fellowship then begin to implant pumps and stims. You can be a CRNA or a NP or a PA with no training at all and do spinal injections, RF, and stims.

 

[dc2md]

I would say it'll be much harder to get a job, BUT, still possible with a fellowship. A future employer would have to have a lot of faith that your fellowship training took someone that hadn't really performed a musculoskeletal exam in 3 years, and taught them extensive physical exam and history of spinal pain knowledge, plus the competent skills to perform the technical/delicate spinal interventional procedures we do.

I think with the right non-accredited fellowship in spine or sports/spine, you can learn those skills and get a good letter of recommendation attesting to that knowledge, but it's not easy.

 

[CB1Antagonist]

Its definitely possible. I personally know 2 psychiatrists who are ACGME fellowship trained in pain medicine and perform the entire range of interventional pain procedures

 

[LoveMedicine100]

Thanks! This sounds very encouraging!

 

[lord_jeebus]

One of my co-fellows was a psychiatrist. He had no difficulty finding a lucrative job close to his family in Texas. His psychiatric background might even have been a plus for him (and he was also a board-certified addictionologist). He learned quickly and I don't think anyone had any concerns about his technical interventional skills at the end of his fellowship.

The real challenge is getting the pain fellowship from psychiatry. My program had a 50:1 ratio of applications to available positions. If you know beforehand that you are interested in pain, I don't think that choosing psychiatry makes much sense.

 

[painfan]

Apparently they can get really good jobs.
A class of 2013 graduate signed up for a gig in Houston.
1st year starting 480k
Not a pill mill.

I thought numbers like this no longer existed ??

 

[Aether2000]

They are called injection mills. No better than pill mills.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Apparently they can get really good jobs.
A class of 2013 graduate signed up for a gig in Houston.
1st year starting 480k
Not a pill mill.

I thought numbers like this no longer existed ??

We're probably thinking of the same guy. His starting pay was good but not that good.

 

[jsaul]

We're probably thinking of the same guy. His starting pay was good but not that good.

I heard this guy started at 400K
this sounds like an urban legend

 

[hyperalgesia]

A starting salary of $480k is, in order of likelihood:

1. BS, it's really $250k (it's $480k if you gross 2mil for the practice or some other unattainable goal - always in small print). This is far and away the most likely situation.

2. It's a completely unethical practice, either a pill mill or an injection mill. Referrals are screened by a chiro or massage therapist or retired dentist.

3. (A very distant 3). It's in an undesirable area with excellent payer composition and established very busy interventional practice. All referrals are screened by a real doctor for the injection monkey.

Situations #1 and #2 are always disguised as situation #3.

 

[Ducttape]

4. its an established practice... but the primary owner is looking for a partner that his son or close relative to join the practice...