Pain Fellowship in Iran

The three major universities (Iran, Shahid Beheshti, and Tehran) are responsible for pain fellowship training. The pain fellowship program in these centers was specialized in the multidisciplinary management of patients suffering from acute, chronic, and cancer pain. These centers provide postsurgical Acute Pain Service (APS) and functions as a consult service for appropriate inpatient pain consults.

Pain fellowship training in Iran is consisting of 18 months of full-time program. Fellows receive training in theory, indications, risks, complications, and practical applications of the basic and advanced pain procedures. The fellowship combines extensive experience with advanced interventional pain techniques in addition to rotations in regional anesthesia, acute pain service (APS), neurology, radiology, neurosurgery, orthopedic, physical medicine and rehabilitation, cancer pain and palliative care.

The trainees are extensively exposed to strategies of pain management by both anesthesiologists and faculty from other disciplines. Furthermore, they are exposed to all modalities of acute pain management, including medical therapy, iv PCA, and peripheral nerve blocks (single shoot and continuous infusion).

The faculty consists of the Fellowship Director, Anesthesiologists, Neurologists, Psychologists, Physical therapists, Nurses, and consultants in Orthopedic surgery, Neurosurgery, Rheumatology, Radiology, Internal Medicine, Oncology, and Pharmacology.