Pain Fellowship

[otis86]

I know Pain is a very popular fellowship for Anesthesia residents. I'm a resident in a new program who is applying this year for Pain, my concerns are will I actually be able to land a fellowship? Average resident, with good LOR's, good amount of publications (5 first author) and presentations/abstracts, ASA political member, ITE also average. I'd appreciate any feedback?? Anything I can do to boost my CV??

Thanks, advice much appreciated.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted682700]

Do extra rotation in pain as elective in the program that you like

 

[deleted171991]

There is an ITE coming in 3 months. Rock it!

 

[AdmiralChz]

There is an ITE coming in 3 months. Rock it!

Absolutely. ITE is one of the few things you can compare residents to each other on a nation-wide basis. While it takes less of importance than USMLE (thankfully), a very low score can pretty much shut the door. Also I would recommend discussing and getting advice from your pain division chair/doctor/whoever you rotate with (you'll need his or her LOR anyway) - they may have contacts around the country. Finally consider going to the annual pain meeting - aaaaand I'm not sure what that is, but I did so for cardiac and was able to network at that meeting in the Spring. Almost all anesthesiology subspecialties (CCM, Peds, Cardiac) have their annual meeting in the Spring so perfect time to network. Good luck!

 

[Hoya11]

I know Pain is a very popular fellowship for Anesthesia residents. I'm a resident in a new program who is applying this year for Pain, my concerns are will I actually be able to land a fellowship? Average resident, with good LOR's, good amount of publications (5 first author) and presentations/abstracts, ASA political member, ITE also average. I'd appreciate any feedback?? Anything I can do to boost my CV??

Thanks, advice much appreciated.

My feedback from about 4 years ago is that its all who you know/luck

First apply to your home and local programs. These are your best chance. The places who knoe the people who know you. Speak with your chairman and staff to see if there are any preexisting contacts/inroads. I didnt have a home progam so it was tougher. Some faculty knew folks at other programs though.

Apply broadly, apply everywhere in fact. You can always turn down interviews or offers. Get a bunch of interview invites. Go to 15.

I would personally think going to a national/regional meeting is low yield and I think the people you try an schmooze know exactly what you are doing and think its a little much...

Have a nice clean application packet with a concise and clear and heartfelt essay about why you want to go into PM. Dont have any missing documents and keep things organized.

If you dont hear from a program give a follow up phone call.

I think the thing that matters most is LORs. ITEs as long as you are not worryingly low they dont care... research just list something/anything. EXPOSURE TO PAIN, you loved pain clinic, you have done this many blocks, you spend X amount of months doing it already and know its for you ect...

In the end the bigger/better programs take their own residents leaving a few spots to outsiders. These outsiders are usually great candidates so the whole thing is very competitive if you were like me and had no real home program and were essentially a free agent. If you are in this situation, no matter what kind of all star you are, you have to apply broadly and be willing to leave your city/area of choice - its only a year.

 

[otis86]

Thank you for your replies.

I think ITE's are very important, especially the upcoming one, CA-1 ITE wasn't great, pretty poor actually, my LOR's are strong and well rounded from different institutions as I did research and my intern year was at a different institution from my anesthesia program.

 

[Orin]

Would agree with Hoya11, and I would say in general for all the match-based fellowships, scores open the door but letters/interactions close the deal.

ITE Scores and all the numbers are nice. They'll help you get past the admin person level check who will have cutoffs and easy measurables to look at.

At the end of the day though, you benefit most from contacts with attendings who write good letters and send emails/make calls.

If you're looking for somewhere that has 10 pain fellows, the scores and pubs might be all you need. If you're looking for a smaller place with a lot of internal candidates, then you're going to be out of luck.

 

[Skyline_]

I just went through the pain fellowship application cycle, so I thought I'd add my two cents.

From my experience, here are qualities prioritized in pain applicants:
- Coming from an anesthesiology residency (versus PM&R, neuro, psych). Beyond that, I think residents from quote "prestigious" programs get interviews easier than those from smaller, less well-known programs.
- Having a good reputation in your program (which is demonstrated in your LORs). Also- sometimes pain fellowship directors will call your PD and ask about you, so that's another way they can establish that.
- Displayed interest in Pain. This is demonstrated from research, LORs, attendance of conferences, etc.
- Having LORs from well known people in the specialty.
- Being socially normal in your interview.
- ITE scores. I personally think this is less stressed in pain fellowship (versus Cardiac, Peds, etc), probably because many applicants are NOT anesthesia residents. A good fraction of pain fellowships (maybe 1/3 to 1/2) don't even ASK for your ITE scores.

From the sounds of your application, you should be fine.

Best of luck in the application cycle!