The Pain Medicine Fellowship Program's multidisciplinary approach provides you with an educational and clinical experience in which you will:

• acquire the newest invasive treatment modality skills

• be prepared to function as a pain management consultant.

Fellows are expected to emerge from the 12-month program fully capable of leading a pain management practice group, in any type of private or academic setting.

The fellowship provides comprehensive training in acute, chronic, cancer pain management with a strong emphasis on interventional pain management. Baystate Medical Center's Pain Management Center is the major center for western Massachusetts and has committed resources to training fellows with over 13,000 outpatient visits. The Center has 10 Board-certified Pain Specialists with anesthesiology backgrounds, as well as other specialists including oncologists, psychiatrists, pschologists, acupuncturists, and nurse practitioners. Consultation services from the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Oncology, Rheumatology, Orthopedic Surgery, etc. are also available.

Service Duties

Chronic Pain

Fellows are exposed to a wide spectrum of painful conditions that include chronic pain and cancer pain. You will work side by side with the pain attending physicians as a team and offer consultation services, formulate diagnoses, and implement treatment plans that have a multidisciplinary philosophy and are cost-effective. We have a very high volume of cases and have more than adequate, specialized faculty to help fellows in their training process.

Acute Pain

You will learn the organization and management of a postoperative inpatient pain service, and develop the capability to lead such a treatment team. Fellows will fully understand the pharmacology and clinical use of intraspinal opioids and local anesthetic infusions for acute pain management, including epidural PCEA. Fellows also get training in peripheral nerve catheter insertions for management of acute pain.

Interventional Pain

A strong emphasis is placed on interventional pain management with fellows getting adequate exposure to fluoroscopic-guided interventional pain management techniques, including somatic blocks, sympathetic blocks, neurolytic blocks, radiofrequency ablation procedure, spinal cord stimulator trials, and implants. Approximately 5,000 interventional procedures are performed annually (approximately 20 Fluoro-procedures/day). You also get added experience in ultrasound-guided nerve blocks.

Other Rotations

Elective time is offered as well, which is used for clinical experience with the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radiology and Regional Anesthesia.

Call

Fellows do not take overnight  in-house calls but cover Acute Pain Service on weekends by rotation along with faculty and Pain Nurses.