Interventional pain physician vs general practitioner

The differences between interventional pain physicians and general practitioners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an interventional pain physician and a general practitioner. Additionally, an interventional pain physician has an average salary of $216,432, which is higher than the $172,831 average annual salary of a general practitioner.

The top three skills for an interventional pain physician include patient care, board certification and ICU. The most important skills for a general practitioner are patients, diagnosis, and internal medicine.

Interventional pain physician vs general practitioner overview

	Interventional Pain Physician	General Practitioner
Yearly salary	$216,432	$172,831
Hourly rate	$104.05	$83.09
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	60,107	64,698
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 22%	Doctoral Degree, 50%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

What does an interventional pain physician do?

An interventional pain medicine physician is responsible for determining the cause of a patient's pain and prescribing treatment options. Unlike other pain management, interventional management emphasizes the relevance of providing a diagnosis to treat pain accordingly. This specialist uses all available sources to treat and eliminate the patient's causes of pain, through methods such as rehabilitation programs or physical therapy.

What does a general practitioner do?

A General Practitioner provides primary and continuing medical care for patients within their community. They are responsible for diagnosing patients, checking patients results, and providing treatment as required.

Interventional pain physician vs general practitioner salary

Interventional pain physicians and general practitioners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Interventional Pain Physician	General Practitioner
Average salary	$216,432	$172,831
Salary range	Between $104,000 And $448,000	Between $85,000 And $347,000
Highest paying City	Duluth, MN	Oklahoma City, OK
Highest paying state	North Dakota	Mississippi
Best paying company	OSF HealthCare	Altru Health System
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between interventional pain physician and general practitioner education

There are a few differences between an interventional pain physician and a general practitioner in terms of educational background:

	Interventional Pain Physician	General Practitioner
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 22%	Doctoral Degree, 50%
Most common major	Nursing	Medicine
Most common college	New York University	Duke University

Interventional pain physician vs general practitioner demographics

Here are the differences between interventional pain physicians' and general practitioners' demographics:

	Interventional Pain Physician	General Practitioner
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 39.7% Female, 60.3%	Male, 60.9% Female, 39.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between interventional pain physician and general practitioner duties and responsibilities

Interventional pain physician example responsibilities.

Manage catheters and dress wounds.
Admit outpatient clients for same day epidural injections, ablations, implant surgery.
Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
Review patient medical records and assigns appropriate codes using ICD-9 and CPT coding to format all encounters.

General practitioner example responsibilities.

Shadow and note specific medical cases as well as participated in patient diagnosis and treatment plan discussions
Evaluate a variety of medical conditions and afflictions, including making comprehensive diagnosis and specifying treatment plans.
Serve as initial contact to hospital patients; conduct thorough patient assessments and coordinate referrals to appropriate physicians base on findings
Assist in major elective and emergency surgeries such as appendectomies, exploratory laparotomy, thyroid surgery, hysterectomy and cesarean operations.
Collect and dispatch blood samples according to national malaria eradication and sputum samples for national tuberculosis control program.

Interventional pain physician vs general practitioner skills

Common interventional pain physician skills

Patient Care, 43%
Board Certification, 27%
ICU, 9%
EHR, 8%
IV, 6%
Epidural, 4%

Common general practitioner skills

Patients, 32%
Diagnosis, 7%
Internal Medicine, 6%
Outpatient Clinic, 5%
Emergency Room, 5%
Oral Surgery, 4%

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Interventional Pain Physician
Interventional Pain Physician vs General Practitioner

Updated January 8, 2025

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