• Mai O'Sullivan and Aine O'Gara.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Saint James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. maiosull@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2024 Feb 1; 193 (1): 371374371-374.

BackgroundAs the population ages, musculoskeletal disorders are a prominent contributory factor to loss of mobility and autonomy. Pain is a predictor of disability and worsening frailty and the role of the chronic pain specialist in the management of this cohort cannot be overstated. With growing requirements for pain specialists, we sought to identify barriers to recruitment within this specialty.AimsEstablish baseline attitudes and perceived barriers towards a career in pain medicine among Irish anaesthesiology trainees. Suggest a framework to improve recruitment to the specialty.MethodsEthical approval was obtained. A web-based questionnaire was sent to all anaesthesiologists in training in the Republic of Ireland. Data was analyzed using SPSS.ResultsTwo hundred forty-eight trainees received the questionnaire, 59 responded. 54.2% male, 45.8% female. 79.7% had previous clinical exposure to pain medicine, most of whom had spent over one month with a service. Only 10.2% of respondents were considering a career in pain medicine. Factors that attracted trainees to the subspeciality included: interventional practice (81%), variation in clinical practice (66.7%), autonomy of practice (61.9%) and perceived good work-life balance (42.9%). Deterrents from the subspecialty included a psychologically challenging patient cohort (69.5%), frequency of clinics (50.8%), and additional exams (32.2%). When asked how to improve engagement with the speciality, 62% suggested earlier exposure to the speciality and 32.2% suggested increased frequency of formal teaching and workshops.ConclusionsIncreased exposure of trainees to the specialty during early stages of training may improve future recruitment to the subspecialty in Ireland.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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