Future Fellow - Stim rep workshops and books

[Got Em]

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Hello everyone, I matched at a program that will have a moderate/high amount of interventional procedures. However, I am non-anesthesia, so I'd like to get started earlier (last few months of residency). Had a couple of questions:

1) I heard stim reps will often fly out fellows for a cadaver stim workshop. Are there any downsides in getting involved too early? How do I even go about doing this before fellowship if this is beneficial?

2) Are there any non-interventional books/websites that you've used in fellowship that were helpful for pathophysiology/medicine part? There were a few books suggested by some of my attendings, but they were all 700+ pages long. Looking for shorter books and/or websites.

For interventional/technique books, everyone suggested Rathmell, but the current 2nd edition was first printed in 2011. Anyone know when the new edition is coming out?

 

[DOctorJay]

Rathmell is ok and should probably be in your library but Furman's book is really good.

Essentials of Pain Medicine by Benzon is pretty good.

If you have time and can get into one of those fellows' courses go for it

 

[MD87]

I think doing a stim course before having a good sense of fluoro and solid ability to do an interlaminar epidural would be a waste. IMO, shadowing interventional docs at your program (or getting hands on with them) while they are doing more bread and butter basic lumbar procedures would be more useful. I definitely recommend Furman over any other book as far as procedures go.


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[BobBarker]

Sure, you can make connections for fellows courses now. They won’t take you until a few months into your fellowship at the earliest. You can make connections with your local reps or there will be education links on the company websites.

 

[BobBarker]

Also, I heard that the MDT fellow courses are already full for 2019/2020.

 

[Ferrismonk]

Rathmell is ok and should probably be in your library but Furman's book is really good.

Essentials of Pain Medicine by Benzon is pretty good.

If you have time and can get into one of those fellows' courses go for it

These two books are the best for the basics.

Regarding fellow courses, I'm not sure if it's really worth it if you'll be doing heavy interventional during fellowship. My recommendation is rotate at pain clinics as a resident the last few months of residency and get some time with the prior years fellows after they're no longer fighting each other for their 500th epidural.

 

[10KHertz]

Hello everyone, I matched at a program that will have a moderate/high amount of interventional procedures. However, I am non-anesthesia, so I'd like to get started earlier (last few months of residency). Had a couple of questions:

1) I heard stim reps will often fly out fellows for a cadaver stim workshop. Are there any downsides in getting involved too early? How do I even go about doing this before fellowship if this is beneficial?

2) Are there any non-interventional books/websites that you've used in fellowship that were helpful for pathophysiology/medicine part? There were a few books suggested by some of my attendings, but they were all 700+ pages long. Looking for shorter books and/or websites.

For interventional/technique books, everyone suggested Rathmell, but the current 2nd edition was first printed in 2011. Anyone know when the new edition is coming out?

Pain Medicine or Principles of Pain Medicine by Warfield is a great resource. Addresses a lot of psychopathology associated with our procedures and field in general (ie somatization, conversion, secondary gain).

 

[Ducttape]

my suggestion:

get the basics down on the bread and butter procedures. Read Furman. spend most of your residency focusing on knowing how to do the simple things, and learning how to determine which patients should or should not get an injection. stim courses later, at the end or when you start your practice.

patient selection is key. there is nothing worse than sweating out your first 100 or so SI joints until you get good, then having them page you at 3 am, or hear how you were utterly monstrous, or caused a million different perceived complications, from patients that should never have been exposed to the needle....