Ascension Providence Hospital Pain Medicine

Faculty Contact: Jeffrey Kimpson, MD

Rotation Location: Ascension Providence Hospital, Southfield Campus
                                Michigan Pain Management Consultants

Duration of the Rotation: 2 weeks (MSUCHM only) or 4 weeks

Students Per Month: 1

Work Hours: Generally 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Prerequisites: 2 years of medical school; MCE completion for MSUCHM students; core clerkship completion for students from other schools

MSUCHM Course #: HM 612

General: Students in the outpatient pain clinic will be involved in the evaluation and treatment of pain patients and observe a variety of different pain control procedures. Discussion of patients’ history of present illness, evaluation of pain problems, and design of an individual treatment plan constitute the majority of the clinical education and the basis for further teaching. The student will also be involved with inpatient consultations on patients with various chronic and acute pain problems. Consult patients from may require multidisciplinary approaches, as well as invasive procedures for treatment of chronic pain from malignant disease or benign etiology. Informal discussions take place daily during clinic hours. Content and emphasis are determined by the particular pain conditions that present and can include the entire spectrum of pain syndromes.

Reading Assignments

  • Pain Medicine, A Comprehensive Review, P. Prithvi Raj (Mosby)
  • Practical Management of Pain (second edition), P. Prithvi Raj (Mosby)
  • Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia, David L. Brown (W.B. Saunders, 1996)

Goals & Objectives:

  • To provide medical students with an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of acute and chronic pain
  • To understand the epidemiology of chronic pain and its economic impact on society
  • To approach acute and chronic pain conditions differently, becoming capable of applying a disease management approach that is effective and useful for the treatment of chronic pain
  • Become familiar with interdisciplinary pain care
  • Develop special history‐taking and specific physical exam skills
    • Be able to identify the clinical presentation and pathophysiology of the many commonly occurring complex pain disorders seen in all specialties of medicine and surgery, especially primary care
  • Become familiar with a care management system used to assess disease risk, measure demographic, psychosocial, functional and quality of life aspects of the pain experience
  • Use of data driven clinical decision making for resource utilization
  • Assessing multidimensional clinical outcomes of treatment
  • Understand the concept of value based care
  • Observe minor procedures such as triggerpoint injections, and epidural lumbar injections, diagnostic peripheral nerve blocks, bursa and joint injections.
  • May observe other invasive procedures, with utilization of fluoroscopy, performed in the pain clinic.

Professional Competence: The student should demonstrate development of professional competency, which is based on integration of theory and practice, application of pain management skills, use of clinical thinking, exercise of ethical judgment, use of appropriate communication, recognition of teaching responsibilities, development of management responsibilities, and teaching and learning for a lifetime.

Evaluation: At the end of the rotation, the Rotation Director will collect data from the supervising physician and other medical team members and complete a written evaluation of the student that is reflective of the student’s academic competence, procedural proficiency and professional attributes. The standard medical school form from the student’s medical school will be used. If required, the student should complete a case log and an evaluation of the rotation and submit them to their medical school.