138 - The Geographical Impact of COVID-19 on Pain Fellowship Distribution for Residency to Fellowship and Residency/Fellowship to First Job Location

Pain medicine has transitioned from its original role as opioid medication management into a multidisciplinary field that plays a critical role in caring for patients with various acute and chronic pain-related conditions. Pain fellowship has traditionally been considered a competitive subspecialty and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) drastically shifted the process in which applications have been conducted. This study aims to analyze publicly available geographical data from 2016 to 2024 Pain fellows and ascertain the influence of COVID-19 on the distribution of these trainees. 

Design:

A retrospective study analyzing Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Pain fellow data from 2016 to 2024 were collected for their fellowship class, residency program, primary residency specialty, and first job location. The relative distance and distribution from residency to fellowship, residency to first job, and fellowship to first job were analyzed. These locations were categorized as within 100 miles, same state, same region, or different region. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated for these relative locations with respect to pre- and post-COVID-19. 

Results:

A total of 877 fellows were included, with the majority of fellows (53.6%) staying within the same region as their residency, 51.1% same region from residency to first job, and 56.1% same region from fellowship to first job. Residency to fellowship from pre- to post-COVID-19 were not more likely to stay within 100 miles (OR: 1.16), same state (OR: 1.24), or same region (OR: 1.08). 

Conclusions:

Overall, Pain fellows were more likely to stay within the same region as their residency and for their first job. Additionally, the presence of COVID-19 did not significantly affect the odds of matching within 100 miles, same state, or same region.