Within the ±«Óătv College of Nursing, a unique and nationally recognized fellowship program is giving patients better options for pain care—and its impact is being felt far beyond Florida state lines. The Advanced Pain Management Fellowship at ±«Óătv is one of only three accredited programs in the country and one of just two that focuses specifically on chronic pain management for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). As the largest program of its kind, ±«Óătv is building a nationwide network of highly skilled pain care providers who are reshaping how underserved communities manage their pain.
John Maye, PhD, CRNA, and director of the fellowship, says the program is structured similarly to a CRNA program but is built for practitioners who already have at least two years of experience. The fellowship provides in-depth education in pain physiology, pharmacology, physical assessment, and interventional techniques. Graduates emerge with a strong foundation in multimodal pain strategies, emphasizing non-opioid treatment—a critical counter to the opioid epidemic still effecting many rural regions.
“Our graduates become the pain experts in their communities,” says Maye, “they often return to towns where there was no pain specialist within 200 miles, and suddenly they’re providing life-changing care.”
From rural America all the way to Saipan hundreds of miles off the coast of the Philippines, ±«Óătv-trained fellows are opening pain clinics, reducing the burden on emergency rooms, and helping decrease reliance on opioid prescriptions. While the program doesn't claim direct causation, anecdotal reports from alumni suggest that increased access to fellowship-trained CRNAs has led to observable improvements in community health metrics like opioid use and related overdoses says Maye.
Graduates participate in intensive clinical training at affiliated sites—many of which are rural critical access hospitals—and are mentored by prior Fellowship alumni. Currently, ±«Óătv partners with over 10 active clinical sites on a continuous basis, and 98% of them are in rural areas in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Idaho, Wisconsin, Washington, and Minnesota.
It’s this grassroots growth that’s allowing the Fellowship to scale sustainably while retaining its personalized mentoring model. The curriculum culminates in a rigorous cadaver-based final exam in Tampa, followed by clinical hours in a supervised pain management setting. All told, fellows spend a year acquiring skills they immediately bring back to their communities.
Along with the nationwide impact the program has on communities the fellows end up working in, CRNAs come from far beyond Tampa Bay as well. Unlike many nursing programs focused on regional recruitment, the Advanced Pain Management Fellowship draws CRNAs from across the U.S. making it a truly national beacon for rural care advancement.
“There’s a huge need,” says Zuzana Moore, MA, and academic services administrator of the fellowship. “Pain management isn’t emphasized in most medical training, and in many rural areas, patients are left with few options besides opioids. Our fellows fill that gap.”
There are currently 25 fellows going through the program. Moore says since the program started in 2016, they have consistently recruited more than 20 CRNAs each year and hope to continue that trend moving forward.
The fellowship also navigates complex state laws to ensure CRNAs can implement their training effectively, helping fellows work with boards of nursing and even influencing policy change. Maye and Moore say they are trailblazing pathways in states across the country where where pain management providers were previously non-existent.
As the only chronic pain-focused fellowship accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs with this scale and scope, ±«Óătv is a dedicated leader and innovator in the field.
“We’re not just teaching procedures,” Maye adds, “we’re building leaders who change communities.”