Abstract: Objective To investigate the current status of pain medicine education and career plan among medical students undergoing clinical training at a tertiary teaching hospital in Beijing through a questionnaire survey. Methods A self-designed questionnaire was distributed to and completed voluntarily by medical students during their rotation in the anesthesiology department. Results A total of 65 valid responses were collected (response rate: 92.86%), including 26 junior internship students and 39 senior internship students. Among them, 62 students (95.38%) expressed willingness to continue working as doctors after graduation, 2 students were interested in specializing in pain medicine, and 1 student planned to pursue a career in pain medicine abroad. Nine students (13.85%) reported having received pain medicine training during their clinical rotations, but 88.89% of them felt the training content was insufficient to meet clinical needs. Fifty students (76.92%) expressed a desire to participate in a pain medicine rotation, preferably lasting 1-2 weeks, to observe pain clinics, interventional treatments,and postoperative pain management. Conclusions Medical students lack sufficient knowledge in pain management, which is insufficient to meet the increasing demands of social healthcare services. In the future, incorporating mandatory/elective theoretical courses and clinical rotations in pain medicine could provide students with learning opportunities and foster greater awareness and emphasis on patient pain management in their professional practice.

Key words: medical student, medical education, career plan, pain, survey