Skip to content

The MINT Course Fosters Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Management of Foregut Disease

In This Article

  • The MINT course equips clinicians with advanced technical knowledge of the latest surgical and endoscopic procedures needed to diagnose and treat foregut disease
  • The annual conference offers both in-person and virtual didactics, with optional hands-on sessions in endoluminal therapies, robotic surgery, and pancreatitis management, including a cadaveric robotic lab and a dedicated course for residents
  • The course offers 25+ continuing medical education credits (CMEs) for physicians and continuing education units (CEUs) for nurses

Gastroenterologists, surgeons, advanced practice providers, nurses, and dietitians that treat patients with foregut disease tend to operate independently rather than collaborating to deliver comprehensive, multidisciplinary patient care.

Kumar Krishnan, MD, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Charu Paranjape, MD, MBBS, a surgeon at Mass General and the chief of the Division of General Surgery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, have both experienced this issue firsthand.

To meet this unsolved need, they launched a course focused on the coordinated care of patients with foregut disease, creating a platform for all providers to learn the latest and most cutting-edge therapies to treat their patients.

The third annual "Minimally Invasive and Novel Therapeutics (MINT) in Foregut Disease" course will take place on September 13-15, 2023. Accredited by Harvard Medical School, the conference offers both in-person didactics and hands-on courses as well as the option for virtual attendance.

"Many of us become highly specialized in our practice and in doing so become very siloed," Dr. Paranjape says. "MINT is a disease-based conference where we all come together to talk about foregut disease, our patients, and how we can best coordinate their care."

The MINT conference offers 25+ continuing medical education credits (CMEs) for physicians and continuing education units (CEUs) for nurses.

Covering Cutting-edge Information and Coordinated Care Delivery

Over the course of three days, MINT attendees will explore issues including medical, surgical, pharmacologic, and diet/lifestyle management as well as endoluminal therapy.

The sessions will present cutting-edge information on a variety of topics related to the care of foregut diseases including heartburn and reflux, antireflux surgery and redo fundoplication, achalasia and esophageal motility disorders, and more.

MINT 2023 also offers optional hands-on sessions in endoluminal therapies, robotic surgery, and pancreatitis management, including a cadaveric robotic lab and a dedicated course for residents.

"Gastroenterologists and surgeons bring their own unique perspectives to help understand the ideal management strategies," Dr. Krishnan says.

"Obviously you need expertise in health care delivery, but then you must also be able to deliver that expertise," Dr. Paranjape says. "I think that's something we can all do better and that will always be intrinsic to this course."

Providers from all areas of foregut health care are invited to attend this course including doctors, physician assistants, nurses, dietitians, and other advanced practice providers.

"Advanced practice providers are an integral part of all aspects of health care delivery today," Dr. Paranjape says. "They are a key part of our team at every step, whether in the operating room or the clinic, and are often the first person to interact with our patients."

Accordingly, the conference will devote one extended session toward a series of topics particularly relevant to advanced practice providers. "But it's important to note that physicians and surgeons are welcome to attend this session as well, as we want to bring together everyone to talk about these issues," Paranjape says.

Future Advancements

Over the past several decades, many effective new interventions have emerged to treat foregut disease. Dr. Paranjape is particularly excited about advancements in endoluminal care, robotics and minimally invasive surgery.

"We are very interested in advancing novel minimally invasive endoscopic therapies in the pre-clinical research lab and integrated into clinical care," says Dr. Krishnan.

Both physicians have integrated innovations like these into their clinical practices and enjoy sharing what they have learned so far with course participants.

"I'm extremely optimistic about where things are headed with the management of foregut disease. Endoluminal care is a big part of it—that's what's going to drive most of the advancements in the next few years," Dr. Paranjape says. "Plus, we as a community have come to realize that practicing together is the right thing to do. A forum like MINT is important in that sense."

View the course agenda here

Register for MINT 2023 here

Related topics

Related

Numa P. Perez, MD, a general surgery resident, Paul M. Cavallaro, MD, a research resident, and colleagues have correlated diverticular disease with incisional hernias after elective colectomies, including those performed via laparoscopy.

Related

Duncan J. Flynn, MD, Kumar Krishnan, MD, and colleagues have demonstrated the safety and technical success of endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage for primary treatment of biliary colic, secondary prevention of gallstone pancreatitis, and other indications besides acute cholecystitis.