Anesthesia and pain medicine have seen a number of advancements over the last several years, from advancements in cryoanalgesia to the widespread use of AI-assisted workflows and opioid-sparing techniques.
Mark Votjko, CRNA, with Delta Wave Anesthesia, recently joined Becker’s to share what he thinks will define the next era of pain medicine.
Editor’s note: This response has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What is the biggest shift in pain management you expect to see over the next 2-3 years, and how is your organization preparing for it today?
Mark Vojtko: From what I’ve seen and at the risk of sounding harsh and unsympathetic, there is the chronic pain cohort that could significantly benefit from losing weight, stopping smoking, and improving their diet, along with strength training and working on mobility and flexibility. The answer isn’t with a pill or at the end of a needle, and pain practitioners need to reinforce this rather than using this group as another revenue stream.
There is the other very unfortunate cohort that is incapable of most of the above. While our pain practitioners in good faith do the very best they can, results remain suboptimal. I believe that one additional modality that may prove beneficial is the development of a psychological arm of chronic pain management — heal the mind, heal the body.
