Photo Credit: Ratz Attila
The following is a summary of “Employer Perspective on Pain Fellowship Education: A Survey to Understand the Current State of Pain Medicine Training,” published in the December 2024 issue of Pain by Wahezi et al.
A national survey of pain physician employers conducted through established pain organizations assessed their perspectives on the adequacy of current pain medicine fellowship training and education in light of the evolving field and the emergence of new technologies.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assemble insights from diverse geographic locations, practice types, and settings, emphasizing the need for educational programs to adapt to the evolving pain medicine landscape.
They distributed the survey through national professional pain societies, including the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS), and the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN), as well as the Pain DocMatters forum, an online verified pain physician platform, to ensure broad participant reach. A total of 196 responses were collected, with 39 from the Pain DocMatters forum and 157 via the pain societies’ channels.
The results showed that most respondents indicated a need for additional training beyond the 1-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-approved fellowship. Professionalism and basic interventional skills were identified as the most valued attributes of pain physician candidates. Employers considered spinal cord stimulator (SCS) trials the most crucial advanced procedure for trainees, with other procedures like SCS implants, PNS implants, interspinous spacers, and percutaneous vertebral procedures also deemed important. Only 7% of respondents felt that fellows were adequately prepared to practice independently, with a majority emphasizing the need for further training post-fellowship.
Investigators concluded that training programs should have provided more robust education to better prepare graduates for independent practice.
