Pain match rates for PMR based residents

[painfuldoc]

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Is there any way to find the match rates for interventional Pain for PMR residents vs Anesthesia residents.
If not, please share any personal/anecodatal experiences about how PMR residents are doing in the fellowship match process. I am aware of the 84.7% match rate for all residents.

 

[Peterluger]

Generally, the best bet is for PMR-based fellowships. These include Montefiore, Loma Linda, the West LA VA, and some more I can’t recall. Pain programs with a big acute pain/regional based component are gonna be a problem in my estimation

 

[SommeRiver]

PMR here, and I did an ACGME fellowship that included 8 total weeks of acute pain with no issue bc it really isn't that hard.

 

[painfuldoc]

Thanks for the replies. My end goal is Pain med. I like both Anesthesia and PMR but am a little more biased to PMR. I could see myself doing either one for the rest of my life. However I just want to see if taking anesthesia to get pain fellowship would be the more proven method.

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[hyperalgesia]

Thanks for the replies. My end goal is Pain med. I like both Anesthesia and PMR but am a little more biased to PMR. I could see myself doing either one for the rest of my life. However I just want to see if taking anesthesia to get pain fellowship would be the more proven method.

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The cool thing about anesthesia + pain is you really have 2 completely different options. If everything goes to hell with pain reimbursements, you can do anesthesia.

I did PMR and happy with pain. No interest in doing OR anesthesia. But I feel like you get more "bang for the buck" with the anesthesia route, in terms of what you are qualified to do to make a good living.

 

[RaceCanyon]

For what it's worth, last cycle I signed up for a webinar which included a few anesthesia pain fellowship directors. I posed this exact question, and their response was that the ratios were essentially the same. I'm also a pm&r resident who had a pretty successful interview season and matched into an acgme pain position. Feel free to PM me any questions.

 

[clubdeac]

For what it's worth, last cycle I signed up for a webinar which included a few anesthesia pain fellowship directors. I posed this exact question, and their response was that the ratios were essentially the same. I'm also a pm&r resident who had a pretty successful interview season and matched into an acgme pain position. Feel free to PM me any questions.

Of course the directors are gonna say that. They have to. 10 years ago when I interviewed it was pretty tough for PMR guys to get an ACGME fellowship. It was the year right after the ACGME required every institution to have only one pain program thus eliminating a majority of the existing PMR accredited fellowships. They were in the process of making the current fellowships more “multidisciplinary” but this had just started and they were still primarily anesthesia focused. I had 9 interviews and only one offer, thank the lord

 

[agolden1]

Thanks for the replies. My end goal is Pain med. I like both Anesthesia and PMR but am a little more biased to PMR. I could see myself doing either one for the rest of my life. However I just want to see if taking anesthesia to get pain fellowship would be the more proven method.

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Anesthesia resident chiming in. I've talked with some friends about this question. Basic litmus test for anesthesia vs PMR:

A code blue is called out in the hospital right this second. Which way do you instinctively run? Do you run towards it, ready to act and make split second medical decisions to manage it, or do you try and shuffle away to any other task?

Anesthesia contains many of the former situations. Weird things that come up intra-op that gets your blood pumping intra-op, stat intubations in the MICU and SICU overnight, crashing cardiac cases, crashing transplant cases, preemie NICU babies needing an ex-lap.... If you're going to do anesthesia you are going to need to will yourself through all of these fairly serious situations. They do become more tolerable with time.

Many of the folks who are set on pain when they walk in the door at my program have a tough time because they're just trying to get through all this other stuff in order to get to the promised pain land. Make sure you are really truly committed to anesthesia if that's the route you want to go.

 

[callmeanesthesia]

Anesthesia resident chiming in. I've talked with some friends about this question. Basic litmus test for anesthesia vs PMR:

A code blue is called out in the hospital right this second. Which way do you instinctively run? Do you run towards it, ready to act and make split second medical decisions to manage it, or do you try and shuffle away to any other task?

Anesthesia contains many of the former situations. Weird things that come up intra-op that gets your blood pumping intra-op, stat intubations in the MICU and SICU overnight, crashing cardiac cases, crashing transplant cases, preemie NICU babies needing an ex-lap.... If you're going to do anesthesia you are going to need to will yourself through all of these fairly serious situations. They do become more tolerable with time.

Many of the folks who are set on pain when they walk in the door at my program have a tough time because they're just trying to get through all this other stuff in order to get to the promised pain land. Make sure you are really truly committed to anesthesia if that's the route you want to go.

Anesthesia graduate here - I still had and have no desire to deal with the NICU baby needing an ex lap. Rest of that stuff is fine though. At the beginning of residency I would definitely walk a little slower to the code so I wouldn’t have to run things. Now I’d have no problem with a crashing patient in a jam packed OR. Those things aren’t necessarily inherent personality traits. That’s why there is residency. No matter how confident you are, that first time your attending walks out and leaves you in the OR alone with an anesthetized patient is terrifying.