National Pain Awareness Week: Meet Dr. Tania Di Renna
Medical Director of the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute, Dr. Tania Di Renna
Dr. Tania Di Renna is the Medical Director of the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI) – the only single comprehensive interdisciplinary academic pain program serving as the hub for chronic pain care in Toronto.
In case that doesn’t keep her busy enough, Tania is also part of a team working to develop free online educational resources to support people managing chronic pain.
Why did you pursue a career in pain medicine?
As an anesthesiologist, I feel like I am perfectly positioned to have a career in pain medicine. We are well-versed in the art and science of pain and our role as pain physicians is a natural extension of our professional work. While I was a resident, I also saw that pain medicine was a developing field and decided it would be a good opportunity to learn and grow. What better way to shape the future of medicine than to be a part of a speciality that was, at the time, fairly new?
What is something that you’re working on (or researching) now that you’re excited about?
I’m really excited that the speciality of pain medicine has exploded over the last few years. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare pivoted towards acute care and many chronic disease programs were left on the back burner, including chronic pain. This resulted in the wait lists for chronic pain management ballooning to unmanageable proportions.
Right now, I’m working on research focusing on utilizing quality improvement methodology to improve pain outcomes for patients on wait lists. Our patient journey mapping revealed that patient anxiety grew the longer they waited. Wait listed patients had higher levels of pain catastrophizing, which is a psychological mechanism that results in more disability. Patients were also unaware of trusted online resources to help research their condition. Based on these findings, I focused on creating empowered online education tools for general pain conditions and chronic pelvic pain which could be utilized by patients on wait lists. I also increased the number of outreach mobile chronic pain clinics to enhance capacity for chronic pain management in the primary care setting. Our TAPMI team has secured significant grant funding to examine the effects of implementing such strategies on patient outcomes.
I can say that our preliminary data is very promising!
What are some of your career highlights that you can share with us?
I think my whole career has been a highlight *cue Disney music*. As hokey as that sounds, being in pain medicine gives me purpose, and I’ve never been bored of my work. Knowing that I can potentially help thousands of people in pain is the best part of my job. If I had to pick a single highlight in my Disneyland career, it would be in 2017, when I became a part of the University of Toronto Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine. Please don’t spit out your coffee as you read this unfiltered flattery.
It really was during that pivotal moment I knew I could effect change in pain medicine education, research and clinical care on a grander scale. Our department has some of the best pain researchers, educators and clinicians in the universe (yes, I said universe).
In your opinion, what impact would an increased focus on pain medicine and research have on patient care?
A focus on pain medicine would have an impact on 20% of the Canadian population - that’s over 8 million people. That’s a lot of people.
What’s your advice for someone thinking about entering the field?
Pain medicine checks all the boxes; it’s fun, it’s got interventions, counselling, the opportunity to work in cohesive interdisciplinary health teams and if you hadn’t noticed, people who practice pain medicine are really cool! :)
