2020-2021 Pain Fellowship Interview Thread

[Gnarvin]

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It’s been a couple years, but I remember basically getting a welcome letter and then not hearing much until maybe December. If you are concerned, I would touch base with the program coordinator before I would email the program director after it has only been a week.

 

[nynydoc]

Waiting for a contract which is due in Dec; received a welcome email

 

[GasMachine3]

Is anyone else still waiting on a contract from their program?

 

[adiradirim]

Is anyone else still waiting on a contract from their program?

I got an offer letter that I signed. It said that contracts will be sent towards March. I'm sure other programs will be similar?

 

[Orin]

It's normal to feel abandoned by the fellowship in between matching and getting there. They'll figure it out closer to the date.

1. Work on getting a license in the state you'll be at
2. Reach out to the current fellows to talk about places to live and things like that
3. Relax

 

[nynydoc]

And renew ACLS/BLS!

 

[GlowInTheDark]

Is anyone else still waiting on a contract from their program?

I haven’t heard anything, but I’m not the least bit worried.

 

[WPG@569]

So if I have not heard from any programs yet should I be worried? When are most of the interviews scheduled by?

 

[nynydoc]

Most interviews for me came out end of March into June. I wouldn’t worry too much. Check out last years thread to see the dates.

 

[NY172]

what sort of anesthesia ITE and step 1 score is considered competitive? I am having trouble finding good info. I also hear conflicting info. People say ITE scores important for pain but very few programs ask for it.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

what sort of anesthesia ITE and step 1 score is considered competitive? I am having trouble finding good info. I also hear conflicting info. People say ITE scores important for pain but very few programs ask for it.

This is incorrect based on my limited experience.
This year, multiple programs asked for my CA-1 ITE prior to offering interview invites. So I wouldn’t assume that “very few” programs ask for it.

Obviously the higher, the better. Take a look at the google doc that’s linked in this thread. There’s about 30-35 applicants data that you can look at and derive your conclusions. Top tiers want top tier applicants usually.

 

[Propofool123]

The problem with pain fellowship applications is that because the fellowship is open to so many different specialities (even though the vast majority are anesthesia or PMR) it’s hard for programs to compare apples to apples in terms of applicants.

I’ve noticed that instead of ITE scores, many programs actually fall back on Step scores, AOA status, and research/other activities as a means of assessing how competitive of an applicant you are. I suspect that the majority of programs that do ask for anesthesia ITE scores are 1) primarily taking anesthesia fellows or 2) are also asking PMR residents for ITE scores and just making sure you’re above some arbitrary threshold to ensure you wont fail your primary boards. No program wants to deal with a fellow who failed their primary board certification and now can’t sit for pain boards.