Route to Pediatric Pain Management?

[mjoo]

If one wanted to go into pediatric pain management, what are the possibilities? Anesthesia residency then pain fellowship? or Peds anesthesia fellowship? Is there a separate peds pain fellowship anywhere?

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[UTSouthwestern]

If one wanted to go into pediatric pain management, what are the possibilities? Anesthesia residency then pain fellowship? or Peds anesthesia fellowship? Is there a separate peds pain fellowship anywhere?

As far as I know, the only pain fellowship that has a dedicated pedi pain service is BID.

Pedi pain management is NOT a lucrative field and in fact there is only one certified pediatric pain management specialist in the state of Texas and he does primarily pedi anesthesia with pedi pain on the side as needed.

There isn't a tremendous amount of need for pedi pain specialists mainly because interventional techniques are rarely used in the pediatric population. Those of you thinking about it have to view it as a proficiency that you offer out of the virtue of your heart. Most chronic pain pedi cases fall into the pedi oncology patient population.

A great deal of pediatric pain deals with pedi psychology/anxiety and you have to be ready to address these issues on a daily basis.

 

[Kwijibo]

Pediatric Pain is a very necessary field. Much of the time it is covered by the Pediatric Anesthesia team, and not a peds pain specialist. Columbia has a one year pediatric pain fellowship run through the pediatric anesthesiology department which is mostly non-interventional pain management. There are not many procedures that apply to children or that they can tolerate, however pain is an ever changing field so who knows what the future holds.

 

[Epidural]

As far as I know, BIDMC doesn't have a dedicated Pediatric Pain service. Their Pain fellowship does offer exposure to the Pediatric Pain service at Children's Hospital, which is just down the street. This is limited to one month unless you use your elective to do Children's or you do the Longwood track. The best exposure you'd get in terms of Boston fellowships would be do to the Pediatric Pain fellowship at Children's Hospital.

As far as I know, the Children's program has only taken PM&R and Anesthesia residents. They offer one spot per year.

In general, I would say that the Pediatric Pain fellowships are not as competitive as the adult Pain fellowships programs. The fellows at BWH, MGH, and SRH have to spend a month and it's not a rotation most look forward to. I believe there are at least a few other Pediatric Pain fellowships out there. If you are interested in this field, I think the Longwood or Children's program would be ideal since you would get training in both Adult and Pediatric Pain.