Description
Diagnose and manage acute and chronic pain using evidence-based, multimodal care—including interventional procedures, medications, and rehabilitative and behavioral therapies—to restore function and improve quality of life.
- • Assess pain intensity, location, duration, quality, and functional impact using standardized tools.
- • Perform focused neuromusculoskeletal exams to evaluate mobility, strength, and neurologic status.
- • Develop individualized, multimodal treatment plans with functional goals.
- • Perform interventional procedures such as epidural steroid injections, facet/medial branch blocks, sacroiliac joint injections, peripheral nerve blocks, and trigger point injections.
- • Provide advanced interventions, including radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulator trials, and intrathecal pump management.
- • Manage medications (non-opioid and opioid) with PDMP checks, urine drug monitoring, and tapering when appropriate.
- • Track outcomes and adverse effects; adjust therapies based on response.
- • Order and interpret imaging, labs, and electrodiagnostics (EMG/NCS) to guide care.
- • Coordinate care with physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, addiction medicine, surgeons, and primary care clinicians.
- • Prescribe nonpharmacologic therapies, exercise programs, orthotics or bracing, and assistive devices to optimize function.
- • Educate patients and families on pain mechanisms, self-management, activity pacing, and safe medication use.
- • Document evaluations, procedures, treatment plans, controlled-substance agreements, and outcomes.
- • Evaluate work-related and sports injuries causing pain and guide graded return-to-activity plans.
- • Manage perioperative, cancer, and palliative pain in collaboration with specialty teams.
- • Teach trainees and staff pain assessment, interventional techniques, and opioid stewardship.
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Healthcare & Human Services
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Source
Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
