Pain Medicine Education in the United States: Success, Threats, and Opportunities

Anuj K Aggarwal; Lynn Kohan; Susan Moeschler; James Rathmell; Jane S Moon; Meredith Barad

doi:10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.004

Pain Medicine Education in the United States: Success, Threats, and Opportunities

Anesthesiol Clin. 2023 Jun;41(2):329-339. doi: 10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.004. Epub 2023 Apr 8.

Authors

Anuj K Aggarwal¹, Lynn Kohan², Susan Moeschler³, James Rathmell⁴, Jane S Moon⁵, Meredith Barad⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: akaggarw@stanford.edu.
² Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia, 545 Ray C Hunt Drive, Suite 3168, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street Southwest, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Health Care, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 0215, USA.
⁵ Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 757 Westwood Plaza, Suite 3325, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7403, USA.
⁶ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

PMID: 37245945
DOI: 10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.004

Abstract

The year 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of the first Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation of pain medicine training programs. Before this, the education of pain medicine practitioners was through primarily an apprenticeship model. Since accreditation, pain medicine education has grown under the national leadership of pain medicine physicians and educational experts from the ACGME, exemplified by the release of Pain Milestones 2.0 in 2022. The rapid growth of knowledge in pain medicine, along with its multidisciplinary nature, poses challenges of fragmentation, standardization of curriculum, and adaptation to societal needs. However, these same challenges present opportunities for pain medicine educators to shape the future of the specialty.

Keywords: Chronic pain; Graduate medical education; Multidisciplinary; Pain medicine.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Accreditation
Clinical Competence
Curriculum*
Education, Medical, Graduate*
Humans
Pain
United States