Which Specialties Can Enter a Pain Management Fellowship

[PGY1MD]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum. I am very interested in Pain Management. I am currently a PGY 1 Resident in the field of Family Medicine.

My question is this: Who can enter a Pain Management Fellowship with respect to specialization?

Can I, as a Family Practitioner, enter a Pain Management Fellowship? I've done tons of internet research on this topic and have been unable to find out any concrete answers. I found one person who did a Family Medicine residency and completed a Pain Fellowship in Georgia. I have not been able to find anyone else. Many program's application stipulate that an applicant must have completed a residency in Neurology, Anesthesiology, PM&R, or Psychiatry in order to apply to their Pain Management Fellowship. Is this an ACGME requirement? I have aslo heard something about Family Medicine residents completing Sports Medicine Fellowships and then sitting for the Pain Boards - is this actually possible?

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,

PGY1MD

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[Aether2000]

The new rule allows anyone that has completed an ACGME primary residency in anything to apply for a pain medicine fellowship position. Therefore, a geneticist or dermatologist or allergist can now apply for pain fellowships.

 

[PGY1MD]

Swweeet! This is music to my ears. Thank you for your reply!

 

[freddydpt]

good for me as well... i am doing radiology

 

[Columbus99]

Yeah you might be able to apply for a Pain fellowship as a family doc. However, its not an even playing field. Anesthesiologists have the best shot at getting that Pain fellowship. Next in line are Physiatrists.

This is what I've heard from other residents. It might be outdated information though so don't take it to the bank.

 

[GQPMR]

This is probably the best way to look at your chances to get into a pain fellowships from any field:

Anesthesia>>>>Physiatry>>Neurology>>Psychiatry>All Other Specialties

 

[Disciple]

good for me as well... i am doing radiology

Then why not do an IR fellowship? Discos, Vertebroplasties and spine injections here as well.

 

[savealife]

Then why not do an IR fellowship? Discos, Vertebroplasties and spine injections here as well.

I think these procedures are common in MSK Radiology fellowship, not so much IR.

 

[drhman]

In radiology, you could do a Neuro fellowship with NeuroIR, an MSK fellowship or an IR fellowship. It just depends on the department and the location whether or not you do epis, vertebroplasty, and other injections. I am an IR and I do all of the spine work plus all of the other vascular and non vascular IR.

 

[freddydpt]

In radiology, you could do a Neuro fellowship with NeuroIR, an MSK fellowship or an IR fellowship. It just depends on the department and the location whether or not you do epis, vertebroplasty, and other injections. I am an IR and I do all of the spine work plus all of the other vascular and non vascular IR.

Yeah, I'm leaning more toward an MSK fellowship and it will really depend on how I envision my future practice. I really like what they do up at Jefferson with MSK US. With my PT background I kinda want to integrate some clinic time, too. MSK medicine sort of things with interventional pain (along with some imaging), similar to bread and butter PM&R. Too many options I guess

 

[thepaindoc]

There is ACGME accredited pain medicine fellowship who has accepted a candidate from internal medicine few years ago. I actually know that person, and he was a great fellow. However, it was PGY5 spot, so he had to spend one more year as a chief resident, prior to be accepted to the program. Hope this information helps.

 

[PainDr]

This is probably the best way to look at your chances to get into a pain fellowships from any field:

Anesthesia>>>>Physiatry>>Neurology>>Psychiatry>All Other Specialties

As a neurologist and having already gone through the process (completed fellowship in 2006), I'd modify that just slightly:

Anesthesiology>>>Physiatry>Neurology>>>>Psychiatry>>>>All other specialties.

 

[drusso]

Increasingly, "specialty of origin" issues are becoming less important.

I think that it is terrible advice to complete an entire residency on the basis of what *could* make you more competitive for a fellowship. Fellowship directors come and go. Fellowships wax and wane in quality. Applications go up and down based upon market demands.

Do the specialty you enjoy the most and best "clicks" with your interests and temperment. The most important thing is to find the right mentors in your base specialty for pain medicine regardless if it be gas, physiatry, or neuro.

 

[GQPMR]

As a neurologist and having already gone through the process (completed fellowship in 2006), I'd modify that just slightly:

Anesthesiology>>>Physiatry>Neurology>>>>Psychiatry>>>>All other specialties.

I am sure that Neurology is being represented more and more these days in pain medicine. I was basing my original descending order list from what I saw on the interview trail this past year. I only went to about 9 interviews, but not one of them was interviewing Neuro or Psych candidates on the days I went. Although one program had a psych person as a fellow and another one had a neuro person as one of the fellows. I am looking forward to the day we all can be equally considered for the field of pain medicine and not just backups to our anesthesia colleagues.

 

[GQPMR]

Increasingly, "specialty of origin" issues are becoming less important.

I think that it is terrible advice to complete an entire residency on the basis of what *could* make you more competitive for a fellowship. Fellowship directors come and go. Fellowships wax and wane in quality. Applications go up and down based upon market demands.

Do the specialty you enjoy the most and best "clicks" with your interests and temperment. The most important thing is to find the right mentors in your base specialty for pain medicine regardless if it be gas, physiatry, or neuro.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly, don't go into a field of medicine you are going to hate just because you want to do a pain fellowship. Choose the field you most enjoy and as drusso mentioned find the appropriate mentors. If you cannot find any or they are unwilling to help then become your own mentor. Believe me when you tell program directors that you published or started interesting pain research on your own, they will be quite impressed by you.

 

[mid|ine]

I would not do a residency you really will not like. But if you are interested in pain and can see yourself in an anesthesia residency or one of the others, anesthesia is the obvious choice. Most of the programs are anesthesia based. While there are PMR programs I am not aware of any neuro or psych pain programs, and that is an obvious disadvantage.