If you happen to be an individual who suffers from some level of chronic pain whether it’s due to an injury, nerve damage, surgery or even diabetes or cancer, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be referred to what is known as a pain management specialist. These are physicians who are highly trained in being able to diagnose and treat the issues that directly stem from this sort of discomfort.
However, before making a final selection pertaining to the specialist that you’d like to work with long-term.
Here we wanted to take out a moment to share with you five things that you should consider first
Interview more than one
There’s a pretty good chance that there reason why you even know that you should see a pain management specialist is because your medical doctor advised it. This means that they usually have a name of someone they want you to see in that field. But this doesn’t automatically mean that you have to go with that individual. In fact, our opinion is that you should interview more than one pain management specialist before making your final decision. This is so you can be sure you’re with someone you can feel comfortable with; someone you can trust.
Inquire about their training
As you’re talking to different pain management specialists, one of the first things that you should do is make sure that they are highly qualified. This means inquiring about their educational background, asking them if they trained through an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and when they passed their board certifications. It can also be helpful to ask if they would be willing to provide you with 3-5 referrals too. (The reputable ones will have no problem with doing that.)
Make sure they have a multimodal approach
Something else that’s extremely important to know is if the pain management specialists that you are considering tend to take on a multimodal approach. What this basically means is inquire about if they create treatment plans that don’t just include medication and/or injections but physical therapy and diet too. In dealing with chronic pain, you want someone who takes on more of a holistic approach if at all possible.
Ask what their long-term goals are
Say that you made an appointment with the consultant in order to find a pain management specialist. As you’re talking to a prospective specialist, another thing to ask is what their long-term goals are for you. Any professional is going to look beyond what your current conditions are in order to come up with a plan that can help to alleviate your discomfort more and more as time goes by.
Confirm that they will be hands-on with your treatment
One mistake that some patients make is choosing a particular pain management specialist but hardly ever seeing them at appointments and follow-ups because the specialist is overbooked and therefore ends up assigning people to their “physician extenders”. When you made the decision to use a specific specialist, they should be committed to providing you professional, consistent and personal care. That’s why it’s vital that you confirm that they will ahead of time. For more information on pain management specialist and what they specifically do, visit Everyday Health and put “do you need a pain specialist” in the search field.
