Pain medicine fellowship eligibility question

[hanzaishi]

I'm an internal medicine resident with strong interests in pain medicine fellowship. I'm wondering:

1) which pain fellowship programs have accepted internal medicine resident applicant before?
2) If possible, would you guys please give me some advice regarding how to proceed for the preparation of my application?

Background: I'm currently a PGY2 in an internal medicine program. I will be an atypical applicant besides my internal medicine residency (IM) background. Prior to IM residency, I worked as a licensed physical therapist and acupuncturist in the United States for years. I also have been participating in research projects with over 30 PubMed publications, including 6-7 pain/opioid related.

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[BobBarker]

I would make a backup plan. If you can get an anesthesia CA1 position in July that would be by far the best option for you to get a pain fellowship in the future.

 

[swamprat]

I'm an internal medicine resident with strong interests in pain medicine fellowship. I'm wondering:

1) which pain fellowship programs have accepted internal medicine resident applicant before?
2) If possible, would you guys please give me some advice regarding how to proceed for the preparation of my application?

Background: I'm currently a PGY2 in an internal medicine program. I will be an atypical applicant besides my internal medicine residency (IM) background. Prior to IM residency, I worked as a licensed physical therapist and acupuncturist in the United States for years. I also have been participating in research projects with over 30 PubMed publications, including 6-7 pain/opioid related.

I don’t think you have any chance. I know a few IM pain guys and they sat for the boards through the ABPMR however now that ABIM didn’t cosponsor the board with ABEM and ABFM I believe there is no way for u to sit for the boards and therefore no program would likely accept u


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[emd123]

I don’t think you have any chance. I know a few IM pain guys and they sat for the boards through the ABPMR however now that ABIM didn’t cosponsor the board with ABEM and ABFM I believe there is no way for u to sit for the boards and therefore no program would likely accept u


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Correct. In 2014, EM, FM and rads fought for and got accepted as official pain specialties. For some reason, IM decided not to try for this, despite some people I know, who were pushing for it. It's a shame, but that was IM's decision. Therefore, all other specialties other than Anes, PMR, EM, FM, Rads, Psych, and Neuro, cannot be board certified in Pain. Any specialty can still do an accredited fellowship, but can't take the boards. (Prior to this 2014 change, any specialty could not only do an accredited fellowship, but also be board certified.) Weird, but unless something changed since 2014, this is the state of things.

Agree, that if you are hell bent on Pain, switching to Anesthesia is your path of least resistance. I suppose you could do a non-accredited fellowship, but not being board certified, would suck.

 

[Orin]

You would need board accreditation through an atypical agency and credentialing might be an issue down the road.

Your best bet for fellowship training would be to build relationships with faculty at fellowships with a lot of positions and maybe somewhere that has a "pain" fellowship that does not have a strong emphasis on interventional exposure.

You might consider palliative care fellowships where you'll get some overlapping exposure but less interventional experiences

 

[tmvguy03]

Correct. In 2014, EM, FM and rads fought for and got accepted as official pain specialties. For some reason, IM decided not to try for this, despite some people I know, who were pushing for it. It's a shame, but that was IM's decision. Therefore, all other specialties other than Anes, PMR, EM, FM, Rads, Psych, and Neuro, cannot be board certified in Pain. Any specialty can still do an accredited fellowship, but can't take the boards. (Prior to this 2014 change, any specialty could not only do an accredited fellowship, but also be board certified.) Weird, but unless something changed since 2014, this is the state of things.

Agree, that if you are hell bent on Pain, switching to Anesthesia is your path of least resistance. I suppose you could do a non-accredited fellowship, but not being board certified, would suck.

I agree, consider switching to either PM&R or Anesthesia. They would likely be able to accept your IM PGY 1&2 year which would enable you to jump into Anes/PM&R as a 1st year/PGY-2 next July. I would find mentors in either of these specialties, and do as many related rotations in the next 6 months.
It would be a lot of work to switch but if you’re motivated you can do it. Don’t let anything/anyone stop you from persuing Pain if that’s what you’re set on

 

[Burnted_out]

I agree, consider switching to either PM&R or Anesthesia. They would likely be able to accept your IM PGY 1&2 year which would enable you to jump into Anes/PM&R as a 1st year/PGY-2 next July. I would find mentors in either of these specialties, and do as many related rotations in the next 6 months.
It would be a lot of work to switch but if you’re motivated you can do it. Don’t let anything/anyone stop you from persuing Pain if that’s what you’re set on

If OP has to make so many changes at the PGY2 level he/she might as well go into an IM type fellowship - Cards or GI where it's more procedural. Seems like it would take a whole redo of residency otherwise. I did not know also that FM could do Pain.

 

[Reboa]

How difficult is it to match coming from a family medicine background? The ABFM directory representation is pretty sparse, 27 with pain CAQs in the US.

 

[Burnted_out]

Correct. In 2014, EM, FM and rads fought for and got accepted as official pain specialties. For some reason, IM decided not to try for this, despite some people I know, who were pushing for it. It's a shame, but that was IM's decision. Therefore, all other specialties other than Anes, PMR, EM, FM, Rads, Psych, and Neuro, cannot be board certified in Pain. Any specialty can still do an accredited fellowship, but can't take the boards. (Prior to this 2014 change, any specialty could not only do an accredited fellowship, but also be board certified.) Weird, but unless something changed since 2014, this is the state of things.

Agree, that if you are hell bent on Pain, switching to Anesthesia is your path of least resistance. I suppose you could do a non-accredited fellowship, but not being board certified, would suck.

This is interesting, I was not aware of this - that only the above mentioned specialties could actually be board certified in pain. Thanks for the info.

 

[raptor5]

How difficult is it to match coming from a family medicine background? The ABFM directory representation is pretty sparse, 27 with pain CAQs in the US.

It is likely that those 27 individuals were grandfathered in before changes were made to the ABFM CAQ. I am not aware of any Family Medicine physicians that successfully matched to a Pain Fellowship.

 

[lobelsteve]

It is likely that those 27 individuals were grandfathered in before changes were made to the ABFM CAQ. I am not aware of any Family Medicine physicians that successfully matched to a Pain Fellowship.

Eric Heister. Fellowed at Emory in 2006. Good guy from what I remember.

 

[emd123]

It is likely that those 27 individuals were grandfathered in before changes were made to the ABFM CAQ. I am not aware of any Family Medicine physicians that successfully matched to a Pain Fellowship.

As of 2014, Pain is as much an official subspecialty of FM as it is Anesthesia. No grandfathering is needed for FM, EM, Rads, Anesthesia, Neuro, Psych and PM&R. That being said, the number of FM people who've done fellowships is admittedly small, but not zero. The whole reason FM (+EM +Rads) were approved by the ABA in 2014 was because there was a stream, albeit small, of people from these specialties passing through Pain fellowships and they were approved to keep that pathway open. I'm pretty familiar with the background on this, since I wrote the letter (which they took my name off of and had signed by the President of American College of Emergency Physicians) that American Board of Emergency Medicine sent to the ABA to apply for approval, which was fortunately accepted. I was already done with my fellowship and boarded at that point. I did it to benefit the specialty of EM and future applicants.

 

[raptor5]

Reboa was referring to the number docs listed by ABFM with a CAQ in pain not the number of acgme fellowship trained FM docs. Now I may be wrong but starting in 2015 the ABFM required an ACGME fellowship and the ABA exam for their (ABFM) CAQ.

 

[BobBarker]

A lot of the docs in Oklahoma and Texas on that list are from the old John Peter Smith fellowship that closed several years ago. I worked with Prevo and Randall in my anesthesia pain fellowship and I met Hein at vflex training.

 

[drusso]

A lot of the docs in Oklahoma and Texas on that list are from the old John Peter Smith fellowship that closed several years ago. I worked with Prevo and Randall in my anesthesia pain fellowship and I met Hein at vflex training.

Ah, John Peter Smith...that place was like a mini-House of God...

 

[emd123]

Reboa was referring to the number docs listed by ABFM with a CAQ in pain not the number of acgme fellowship trained FM docs. Now I may be wrong but starting in 2015 the ABFM required an ACGME fellowship and the ABA exam for their (ABFM) CAQ.

What's an ABFM CAQ?

 

[DOctorJay]

American Board of Family Medicine, Certificate of Added Qualification

 

[SSdoc33]

for the love of god, dont go back and do 3 more years of anesthesia, then another year of fellowship. isnt PT school, acupuncture, medical school and an internal medicine residency enough? either do a non-accredited fellowship, or just open up shop after you internal medicine residency and offer up what you can.

 

[Reboa]

I think the PM&R board initially sponsored the Pain CAQ for FM, but now the ABFM is solely responsible for the CAQ from my limited understanding. I'm just an FM intern, which if anyone has any recs on making myself more competitive for a pain fellowship I'd much appreciate the guidance.

 

[Medman2737]

Hi Hanzaishi,

I don't know you from Adam, but you are in my situation from about 8 years ago. Internal Medicine background trying to get into pain. Do yourself a favor, try your best to switch into PM&R and get into an ACGME fellowship. I regret not doing this every day of my life. Although I am in interventional pain management now (Non-accredited fellowship, pretty good training with some doofus in Canton, GA), you are in a place in your life where the most it will cost is one year of training to switch gears. Bite the bullet, switch disciplines, so you can do your future self a favor.

 

[Burnted_out]

Hi Hanzaishi,

I don't know you from Adam, but you are in my situation from about 8 years ago. Internal Medicine background trying to get into pain. Do yourself a favor, try your best to switch into PM&R and get into an ACGME fellowship. I regret not doing this every day of my life. Although I am in interventional pain management now (Non-accredited fellowship, pretty good training with some doofus in Canton, GA), you are in a place in your life where the most it will cost is one year of training to switch gears. Bite the bullet, switch disciplines, so you can do your future self a favor.

What if OP doesn’t get into pain?

 

[Birdstrike]

Hi Hanzaishi,

I don't know you from Adam, but you are in my situation from about 8 years ago. Internal Medicine background trying to get into pain. Do yourself a favor, try your best to switch into PM&R and get into an ACGME fellowship. I regret not doing this every day of my life. Although I am in interventional pain management now (Non-accredited fellowship, pretty good training with some doofus in Canton, GA), you are in a place in your life where the most it will cost is one year of training to switch gears. Bite the bullet, switch disciplines, so you can do your future self a favor.

ROTFL

 

[Medman2737]

"Doofus" is a term of endearment. As for myself, I am but a simple idiot.

 

[lobelsteve]

Come home soon pony boy.