Guidelines hold great importance in pain medicine. With many interventional procedures, there is some evidence for efficacy, but wide variation in study results due to differences in technique, interpretation, and implementation. In this month’s RAPM Focus, Executive Editor Chad Brummett, MD, joins Steven Cohen, MD, the senior author of “Consensus practice guidelines on interventions for cervical spine (facet) joint pain from a multispecialty international working group,” first published in November 2021 (https://rapm.bmj.com/content/47/1/3). These guidelines are a valuable resource for trainees, fellows, and anyone who works with them.

Dr. Steven Cohen is a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Baltimore, MD. He is also chief of pain medicine and director of pain operations at Johns Hopkins and director of pain research at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in journals such as Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Anesthesiology, Pain, and The New England Journal of Medicine. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Cohen is a retired colonel in the United States Army.

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