Pain medicine

[sam1234567]

How realistic it is for radiation oncologists to get into pain fellowship? are there any documented cases of people who have chosen this career path?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[medgator]

 

[Palex80]

FOR THE PAIN!

 

[madchemist89]

I think it is a reasonable question. Some people might be looking for possible exit strategies given all of our headwinds.

 

[sam1234567]

I think it is a reasonable question. Some people might be looking for possible exit strategies given all of our headwinds.

It’s definitely a back up plan since I’m a relatively new attending and i can definitely do another year of training.

 

[sam1234567]

Have couple of friends who work in rural areas and easily breaking $1M with really good hours.

 

[GapCalc]

Always good to have an exit strategy for RO these days...

Unfortunately, it seems like the list of residencies that lead to pain fellowship do not include RO. Perhaps you could find a program and see if their admissions committee would make an exception but it seems like most pain fellows have completed a residency in Anesthesiology, PM&R, Neurology, Psych, or EM. Having some procedural background would probably be really useful, so unless you've done a ton of brachytherapy, I imagine selling yourself as a candidate to a pain fellowship program director would be an uphill climb...

 

[thecarbonionangle]

Have couple of friends who work in rural areas and easily breaking $1M with really good hours.

I think it could be done. Like palliative care i believe it is one year fellowship.
Chronic pain patients can be frustrating and you will deal with drug seekers and maybe dangerous people who act out when you cut them off. Anyways, its not a bad back up. I suspect many of us have the same back ups. Our field has so many uncertainties and bad “leadership”, it can be depressing to think about it

 

[metallica81788]

I'd rather do Radonc for a Peds salary than do pain medicine, no thanks

 

[RadOncDoc21]

I'd rather do Radonc for a Peds salary than do pain medicine, no thanks

That’s what the admins want to hear!

 

[yesmaster]

It would be cool to do your own vertebroplasties

 

[OTN]

You can get into palliative medicine from RO but not pain medicine. The palliative medicine docs in our practice work entirely remotely, are very busy, in high demand, and make a good income.

It's my bail-out option if they screw up radonc badly enough I need to pull the ripcord. Not expecting to have to do so.

 

[Fpg1245]

I'd rather do Radonc for a Peds salary than do pain medicine, no thanks

I mean if I could minimize the actual medical mgmt part and just be a needle jockey.

 

[metallica81788]

You can get into palliative medicine from RO but not pain medicine. The palliative medicine docs in our practice work entirely remotely, are very busy, in high demand, and make a good income.

It's my bail-out option if they screw up radonc badly enough I need to pull the ripcord. Not expecting to have to do so.

Might not be a bad transition on the way out minus the one year fellowship part
Covering decent amount of inpatients plus a clinic would be annoying but don't most places have inpatient palliative service only M-F?

 

[evilbooyaa]

Palliative care yes,
interventional pain medicine, no

 

[OTN]

Might not be a bad transition on the way out minus the one year fellowship part
Covering decent amount of inpatients plus a clinic would be annoying but don't most places have inpatient palliative service only M-F?

Our docs do outpatient, remote only

 

[mdo1738]

Pain doc here. For interventional pain management, you would be looking at re-doing residency in a specialty that can go into the field (anesthesia or PM&R primarily, also ER and randomly neurology). While technically not impossible, it is extremely extremely unlikely a program would take a rad onc, and I’m pretty sure you couldn’t become board certified (not that that really matters).