The specialty of Pain Medicine is concerned with the study of pain, prevention of pain, and the evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of persons in pain.
As part of training to become a Consultant Anaesthetist in the UK, some choose to sub-specialise in pain medicine. They often combine working as an anaesthetist in the theatre environment alongside surgeons with running their own independent pain clinics and interventional lists to help manage patients suffering from longstanding and sometimes complex pain presentations.
One of the key roles of an anaesthetist is to ensure surgery is painless for our patients, and therefore we are best placed to understand the significance of pain relief. As our understanding of how our moods, beliefs, fears and lifestyles shape our experience of pain expands, pain specialists are in a unique position to bring this knowledge together, with the physical dimensions of pain management.
A large part of a pain management consultants’ role involves acknowledging our limitations as doctors, while promoting our willingness to support patients in their understanding and management of their conditions to improve their quality of life.