ABA Pain Medicine study plan

Diagram the ascending spinothalamic, spinoreticular, and descending modulatory pathways from primary afferent to cortex, labeling at least ten synaptic stations and their principal neurotransmitters.

Classify A-delta, C, and A-beta fibers by conduction velocity, threshold, receptive field, and peptide content, and predict the clinical sensory signature of losing each population.

Explain peripheral sensitization, wind-up, NMDA-dependent central sensitization, and descending inhibition failure in 300 words, attaching one bedside clinical correlate to each mechanism.

Compare mu, kappa, and delta opioid receptor signaling with alpha-2 adrenergic, GABA-A/GABA-B, and TRPV1 mechanisms at spinal and supraspinal sites.

Map every major analgesic class to the receptor target and pathway studied in week 1, writing the linkage in a single sentence per drug.

Build a reference table of 15 analgesics listing mechanism, key pharmacokinetic property, CYP-mediated interaction, and highest-yield adverse effect.

Calculate equianalgesic conversions across morphine, hydromorphone, oxycodone, methadone, and transdermal fentanyl, showing work for 12 scenarios including renal impairment and opioid rotation.

Differentiate tolerance, physical dependence, addiction, withdrawal, and opioid-induced hyperalgesia using a four-column contrast table with a discriminating feature per row.

Construct multimodal analgesic plans for six written vignettes: acute postoperative, cancer-related, painful diabetic neuropathy, elderly with renal impairment, hepatic impairment, and pregnancy.

Justify adjuvant selection (gabapentinoids, SNRIs, tricyclics, topical lidocaine, capsaicin) using number needed to treat and number needed to harm reasoning for each choice.

Formulate an opioid risk-mitigation bundle covering prescription monitoring review, urine drug testing, naloxone co-prescribing, treatment agreement, and a written taper schedule.

Critique fixed dose thresholds in opioid prescribing guidance and articulate at least three clinical exceptions with supporting rationale.

Predict and manage three common drug-specific toxicities, describing the monitoring interval that would detect each early.

Describe indications, contraindications, landmark and imaging anatomy, and step sequence for medial branch blocks, interlaminar and transforaminal epidural injection, and trigger point injection.

Interpret described contrast-spread patterns at cervical, thoracic, and lumbar levels and state whether to proceed, reposition, or abort.

Rank procedural complications (dural puncture, intravascular injection, spinal cord injury, epidural hematoma, infection) by approximate incidence and pair each with its prevention step.

Explain the evidence basis and trial criteria for radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation, and intrathecal drug delivery.

Outline a structured diagnostic workup for lumbar radiculopathy, facet-mediated pain, and complex regional pain syndrome using history, physical examination, and imaging in that sequence.

Write a complete pain history and physical examination template incorporating neurologic screening, red-flag review, and at least three validated pain scales.

Distinguish neuropathic, nociceptive, and nociplastic pain profiles in five written vignettes, naming the finding that drives each classification.

Identify when electrodiagnostic testing, advanced imaging, or diagnostic blockade adds value versus when it delays care.

Select and justify an assessment instrument (numeric rating scale, McGill Pain Questionnaire, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, DN4, Oswestry Disability Index) for ten scenarios and interpret a sample score for each.

Explain the biopsychosocial model and name the psychosocial yellow flags that predict chronification, stating how each alters the treatment plan.

Describe cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, biofeedback, and graded exposure by mechanism, typical session structure, and evidence strength.

Design a graded motor imagery and desensitization sequence for a patient with complex regional pain syndrome, specifying progression criteria.

Differentiate multidisciplinary from interdisciplinary care and list the team roles and outcome measures required for an accredited-style program.

Integrate physical therapy, psychological intervention, and pharmacologic management into one sequenced chronic low back pain rehabilitation plan.

Apply patient safety practices to procedural care: informed consent, sedation monitoring, sterile technique, wrong-site prevention, and controlled substance safeguards.

Analyze professionalism scenarios involving prescribing boundaries, impaired colleagues, informed refusal, and mandatory reporting, and state the correct action and its rationale.

Complete two timed 100-question mixed-domain practice sets under exam conditions and log every missed item by domain and error type (knowledge gap, misread, reasoning error).

Re-study the three weakest domains identified by the error log and re-test each with 20 fresh self-written items.

Deliver eight five-minute verbal teach-backs on high-yield topics drawn from all six domains to confirm recall without notes.

Consolidate a one-page high-yield summary sheet covering pathways, drug classes, procedural contraindications, assessment instruments, and safety rules.