Spine/pain fellowship open to ANYBODY?

[Medman2737]

This is a general question for the forum. Many thanks to those who replied to my previous post.

I am an internist with extensive musculoskeletal training/experience (OccMed residency/Sports fellowship), but I'd like to start doing interventional spine procedures

Which spine/pain fellowship programs would be open to applications from an Internal Medicine applicant? (Please be specific)

Thanks for any input!

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[Finally M3]

Cleveland Clinic's spine fellowship was; however, with the changes to the ACGME reqs for pain fellowships, there hasn't been a non-PMR in 3 years now.

 

[nvrsumr]

As a graduate of an sports medicine fellowship Im sure many believe you already have all the credentials required to perform interventional pain management procedures. Why not just take a couple weekend courses to fill in the "spine" part?

 

[DistantMets]

I'm not sure what your options would be. You may have trouble because many of the non-accredited PM&R spine fellowships expect you to do EMGs and most PM&R residents already have some interventional exposure so the learning curve isn't as steep. The volume of PM&R applicants will be an issue and the overall attitude that only certain specialities should be doing these injections will come into play. I can't see an accredited pain fellowship looking seriously at you because it seems like they barely consider neuro and psych, 2 of 4 residencies that are "approved" to feed pain fellowships. It would be an uphill climb, but I would call around and see if they'll give you a straight answer.

 

[Preganglionic]

There was an OccMed candidate at Pitt when I interviewed there.