Multidisciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship
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Steven P. Stanos, DO |
The Multidsciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship integrates several areas of pain medicine including, interventional pain management, chronic pain rehabilitation, cancer pain and palliative care, acute pain, pediatric chronic pain, neurology, psychiatry and clinical research. The fellowship is a collaboration between two of the main teaching centers at McGaw Medical Center: Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Dr. David Walega is the Program Director and Dr. Steven Stanos is the Assistant Program Director for the Multidsciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship. Starting in 2013 all fellowship positions will be filled through the Match for fellows starting on July 1, 2014 and thereafter.
The Galter Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Center at Northwestern underwent a major expansion in 2011 to accommodate an ever-increasing patient volume and increased complexity of cases. The Center is equipped with two fluoroscopy suites, an ultrasound suite, nine examination rooms, a 5-bay recovery room and a multimedia Teaching Conference Room. All imaging equipment is exclusive to the Center and is the state of the art.
The fellowship offers five positions for a one-year appointment. All fellow candidates who are selected for interviews will meet with several faculty members and trainees. Historically, four positions are filled with those who completed anesthesiology residency and the remaining position is filled by one who completed a physiatry residency. Exceptional candidates from other disciplines may be considered. Candidates may send their application materials as soon as March 1and interviewing typically begins in the late Spring each year. All positions will be filled through the Match. For further information about the application and selection process, please click here.
Faculty members from the Division of Pain Medicine and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago are recognized experts in pain medicine, regional anesthesia and rehabilitation. They are active in the American Society of Regional Anesthesia, the American Pain Society, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the Midwest Pain Society. They are members of the editorial boards for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Clinical Journal of Pain, and MD Consult-Pain Medicine.
Faculty have authored and edited major textbook, including, Raj's Practical Management of Pain, edited by Honorio T. Benzon, MD et al. and Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia by Drs. Honorio T. Benzon and Robert E. Molloy. There is very active clinical research in the division resulting in publication of papers, reviews, abstracts and book chapters. All fellows present at least one abstract at a national scientific meeting each year.
Clinical Training
The Division of Pain Medicine evaluates and manages postoperative pain and inpatient pain consultations. Inpatient consults are seen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH). In the outpatient Galter Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Center where fellows spend the majority of their training, patients are seen from 7:30 am-5:00 pm during the week. Image-guided nerve and joint injections, discograms, radiofrequency denervations, diagnostic nerve blocks,spinal cord stimulation trials and other interventional techniques are performed in one of three dedicated proceduresuites.
Fellows are trained in pediatric pain medicine and multidisciplinary pain management, including psychiatric evaluation and psychological treatment modalities and physical medicine. More than 2400 new outpatient consults and nearly 5,000 follow-up visits are seen in the Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Center each year with more than 6,000 injections performed annually. These procedures include epidural injections, nerve root and facet injections, sacroiliac joint injections, shoulder, hip and knee joint injections, sympathetic blocks, discography and intradiscal procedures, rhizotomies and spinal cord simulation trials. Fellows implant spinal cord stimulators, intrathecal pumps and perform vertebral augmentation procedures with pain medicine faculty.
There is a formal and highly structured didactic program specifically for the pain medicine fellows. Experts from the fields of radiology, neurosurgery, neurology, urology, rheumatology, emergency medicine, physical therapy and pain research lecture pain fellows in small group discussions during the year as one part of the didactic program. Pain medicine attendings also lecture the pain fellows in a similar format in addition to intensive bedside teaching. The Division of Pain Medicine presents three to four conferences to the anesthesiology department each year during Departmental Grand Rounds and fellows are encouraged to present cases at these conferences. Fellows participate in bimonthly journal article analysis and quarterly pain medicine morbidity conferences. There are frequent interdisciplinary conferences with neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery and a Collaborative Case Conference with the University of Chicago twice a year. In addition, a research curriculum has been developed for fellows which provides training in study design and implementation as well as abstract and manuscript writing. Fellows participate in ongoing research projects or initiate their own studies during training. Fellows also develop a Systems-Improvement Project during fellowship training.
Fellow Benefits
In addition to departmental benefits, fellows funded through the Department of Anesthesiology receive:
1. Memberships to the American Pain Society (APS) and American Society of Regional Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine (ASRA)
2. Funding to attend the ASA, ASRA, or an Academic/Research meeting
3. Funding for an additional scientific meeting
Fellows who present an abstract at an approved national scientific meeting will receive funding for their trip, provided the Program Director approves the absence from training.
4. A copy of Dr. Benzon et al.'s textbook: Raj's Practical Management of Pain (2008)
5. $500 Educational Fund for (e) books or e-learning devices
Fellows funded through the Rehabilitation Center of Chicago receive:
1. Memberships to the American Pain Society (APS) and American Society of Regional Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine (ASRA)
2. A copy of Dr. Benzon et al.'s textbook: Raj's Practical Management of Pain (2008)
3. Additional benefits provided by the PM & R Chronic Pain Program.
