Psychiatry --> Pain Management

[Teufelhunden]

I'm currenlty doing a 4-week Pain Management rotation, which I am becoming increasingly interested in. My preceptor told me something I didn't know: that some Pain Fellowships take people from Psych. I had previously thought that Gas and PMR were the only avenues to Pain Management.

Anyway, he went on to explain why he thought Psychiatrists would make good Pain Managment docs d/t the strong interrelation between chronic pain and depression. Anyway, my question is...are any of you aware of any such fellowships? Do you personally know of anyone who's taken this path?

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[Stinky Tofu]

I don't personally know of anyone who has taken this path, but I do know that there are Psychiatrists out there who do Pain Management. Most of the time they get involved with patients who have chronic pain and other mood disorders. In my experience, many Interventional Physiatrists and Anesthesiologists do not want referrals for these types of chronic pain patients because they feel that there is little that they can do for them given their pathology. I guess you have to decide for yourself what type of practice you want to do in the future. You'll find that many PCPs will happily refer these patients to you if you want them.