What does a pain medicine physician do?
Pain medicine physician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real pain medicine physician resumes:
- Develop skills in managing diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.
- Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
- Assist with managing chronic illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, and CHF.
Pain medicine physician skills and personality traits
We break down the percentage of Pain Medicine Physicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- EHR, 100%
Conduct detailed CBT and WBT sessions for group of up to 20 individuals to familiarize them to the EHR product.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a pain medicine physician to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what pain medicine physicians do because "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Additionally, a pain medicine physician resume shows how pain medicine physicians use communication skills: "learn basic communication skills with patients understand medical terminology clinical exposure recognize emergencysituations interpret medical notes"
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform pain medicine physician duties is compassion. Pain medicine physicians responsibilities require that "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress." Pain medicine physicians also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "enhance the personal dimension of genuine concern and compassion to patients and their families. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for pain medicine physicians to perform their duties. For an example of how pain medicine physician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a pain medicine physician: "used emr to take a full detail history and physical followed by submitting my patients prescription electronically. ".
Dexterity. For certain pain medicine physician responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "dexterity." The day-to-day duties of a pain medicine physician rely on this skill, as "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what pain medicine physicians do: "direct hands on patient experience obtain patient history and information obtain blood pressure perform injections assist in minor surgery. "
Leadership skills. Another crucial skill for a pain medicine physician to carry out their responsibilities is "leadership skills." A big part of what pain medicine physicians relies on this skill, since "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." How this skill relates to pain medicine physician duties can be seen in an example from a pain medicine physician resume snippet: "general surgery with dr. richard guttman at cleveland clinic wooster leadership"
Physical stamina. Another skill commonly found on pain medicine physician job descriptions is "physical stamina." It can come up quite often in pain medicine physician duties, since "physicians and surgeons should be comfortable lifting or turning disabled patients, or performing other physical tasks." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day pain medicine physician responsibilities: "guided and assisted the physical therapy department and reviewed receivables on a quarterly basis. "
The three companies that hire the most pain medicine physicians are:
- Sanford Health3 pain medicine physicians jobs
- Dignity Health2 pain medicine physicians jobs
- BayMark Health Services2 pain medicine physicians jobs
Compare different pain medicine physicians
Pain medicine physician vs. Attending physiatrist, residency program director
Physiatrists must have a bachelor's degree in physical sciences or a related field, a M.D. or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, and 4 to 7 years' internship and residency training specializing in rehab and physical medicine. This position pays annual salaries of around $58K to $370K. It requires skills in empathy, compassion, emotional resilience, monitoring, and strong initiative to work in challenging environments. Physiatrists diagnose illnesses, design plans for treatment, and prescribe various medicines.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, pain medicine physician responsibilities require skills like "pain medicine," "interventional pain," "interventional procedures," and "chronic pain." Meanwhile a typical attending physiatrist, residency program director has skills in areas such as "community resources," "contract labor," "educational programs," and "social work." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, attending physiatrist, residency program directors reach higher levels of education than pain medicine physicians. Attending physiatrist, residency program directors are 16.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 23.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Pain medicine physician vs. Physiatrist
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, pain medicine physician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "pain medicine," "interventional pain," "interventional procedures," and "chronic pain." Meanwhile, a physiatrist has duties that require skills in areas such as "patients," "rehabilitation," "physical medicine rehabilitation," and "carf." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, physiatrists achieve similar levels of education than pain medicine physicians. They're 1.1% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 23.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for pain medicine physicians in the next 3-5 years?
Marcela Armenta
Assistant Professor of Medical Laboratory Technology, Dalton State College
Pain medicine physician vs. Medical director acute rehabilitation unit physiatrist
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, pain medicine physicians are more likely to have skills like "pain medicine," "interventional pain," "interventional procedures," and "chronic pain." But a medical director acute rehabilitation unit physiatrist is more likely to have skills like "surg," "acls," "cno," and "fte."
Most medical directors acute rehabilitation unit physiatrist achieve a lower degree level compared to pain medicine physicians. For example, they're 9.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 30.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pain medicine physician vs. Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between pain medicine physicians and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a pain medicine physician might have more use for skills like "pain medicine," "interventional pain," "interventional procedures," and "epidural." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists require skills like "rehabilitation," "physical medicine rehabilitation," "emg," and "cme. "
In general, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists hold similar degree levels compared to pain medicine physicians. Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists are 0.3% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 7.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of pain medicine physician
Updated January 8, 2025
