00:00:00: Mary Phillips: So welcome to this UEG Podcast on the Best of UEG Week 2026 from a nursing and

00:00:05: allied health perspective.

00:00:07: Mary Phillips: My name is Mary Phillips.

00:00:08: Mary Phillips: I'm a pancreatic dietitian and advanced clinical practitioner working in a tertiary

00:00:13: pancreatic centre in the UK.

00:00:15: Mary Phillips: And I am absolutely delighted to be joined by Deepa Gandhi today.

00:00:18: Mary Phillips: And I'll ask her just to introduce herself for you.

00:00:21: Deepa Gandhi: Thank you, Mary.

00:00:22: Deepa Gandhi: It's my pleasure to join you on this podcast along with the allied health

00:00:26: professional.

00:00:27: Deepa Gandhi: I am currently the endoscopy nurse lead in Charter Medical Private Mullingar

00:00:32: Hospital in Ireland.

00:00:33: Deepa Gandhi: And I'm also a former nurse endoscopist.

00:00:35: Deepa Gandhi: I'm a trained advanced nurse practitioner.

00:00:37: Deepa Gandhi: I'm currently the JAG accreditation lead and the president of ESGENA for the last

00:00:42: three years.

00:00:42: Deepa Gandhi: So it's my pleasure to join you here.

00:00:45: Mary Phillips: Thank you so much for joining us.

00:00:47: Mary Phillips: So the purpose of this podcast is just to run through a few of the highlights of the

00:00:51: UEG Week, which has just taken place in Barcelona,

00:00:55: and talk about it in perspective for nursing and for allied health professionals.

00:01:00: Mary Phillips: So what do you think the highlights were,

00:01:02: things that really stood out on the nursing programme?

00:01:06: Deepa Gandhi: For me, my personal highlight for the UEG Week in Barcelona was the second victim

00:01:10: phenomena and how to prevent it.

00:01:12: Deepa Gandhi: There was a presentation by Fien Claessens from Belgium,

00:01:16: which really highlighted how as healthcare professionals,

00:01:19: we suffer when there is an issue as well.

00:01:22: Deepa Gandhi: And the other thing that really stood out to me was a study done by a nurse and her

00:01:27: team, Krisztina Tari from Hungary,

00:01:30: where time is lost and how a nurse-led

00:01:34: Deepa Gandhi: study for analysis is done in an endoscopy unit where we all have

00:01:40: difficulties with running an efficient unit.

00:01:43: Deepa Gandhi: So these were the two highlights for me.

00:01:45: Deepa Gandhi: And also the other sessions that a lot of people came to us and spoke to us about

00:01:49: was Beyond Borders in our opening session where we discussed about managing a global

00:01:55: nursing workforce and how it impacts when you have cultural diversity and

00:02:01: how to benefit and how to

00:02:03: Deepa Gandhi: train our nurses and endoscopy services to accommodate the changes,

00:02:07: which is really relevant for the current times we're living in.

00:02:10: Deepa Gandhi: So these were the main highlights for me from the UEG Week.

00:02:14: Mary Phillips: Amazing.

00:02:15: Mary Phillips: And that really coincides with some of the issues that were presented in some of the

00:02:19: sessions that I went to as well, particularly around bile duct injuries.

00:02:24: Mary Phillips: So there was an amazing presentation by Professor Kapoor from India,

00:02:28: who talked about the impact of these bile duct injuries on the clinicians and also

00:02:33: on the

00:02:35: Mary Phillips: patients in terms of their preparation for complications and it was a real

00:02:38: eye-opener because we really prepare surgical patients for complications for big

00:02:42: operations, the liver resections, the Whipples,

00:02:45: but when it comes to something like a laparoscopic cholecystectomy,

00:02:49: the patient's perception is that they're going to be going home the next day and

00:02:52: that this is a minor procedure and actually the impact of a serious complications on

00:02:57: those patients

00:02:58: Mary Phillips: is much greater, both in terms of the impact on the patient,

00:03:02: but also the clinicians.

00:03:03: Mary Phillips: That fits in really nicely with the work that you'd seen as well.

00:03:06: Mary Phillips: So fascinating that it goes across all borders.

00:03:10: Mary Phillips: And in terms of the abstract side of things,

00:03:12: were there any particular abstracts that stood out for you?

00:03:15: Mary Phillips: You mentioned some of the nurse-led research,

00:03:17: which was fantastic to see with a huge number of abstracts over 5,000 this year that

00:03:20: came in for UEG.

00:03:22: Deepa Gandhi: Yes, so it was the top 10 abstracts that were presented.

00:03:25: Deepa Gandhi: Some were oral presentations and some were posters.

00:03:28: Deepa Gandhi: What stood out to me was one of the studies that was about the feasibility of

00:03:32: implementing a remote small bowel capsule endoscopy service in an Irish tertiary

00:03:37: referral centre.

00:03:39: Deepa Gandhi: And it was using a PillCam Genius small bowel capsule kit.

00:03:44: Deepa Gandhi: It was a wearable single-use data recorder that adheres to the patient's abdomen

00:03:50: and communicates with the capsule camera.

00:03:52: Deepa Gandhi: So what really stood out about this was it was a postal way of sending the capsule

00:03:57: to the patient and how it was sent back and how the results are downloaded and how

00:04:02: effective it was.

00:04:03: Deepa Gandhi: There was a study done by one of these hospitals,

00:04:05: which was really interesting, where most units,

00:04:08: we bring the patients in and administer the capsule.

00:04:12: Deepa Gandhi: The other thing then that stood out for abstracts, which is an excellent study,

00:04:15: it was about activity-based assessment of nursing workload and endoscopy services,

00:04:21: its implications for optimal staffing, and that was from Greece.

00:04:25: Deepa Gandhi: Again, these are kind of nearly international topics we're all facing at all times,

00:04:30: so that was really applicable because I work in a management capacity now,

00:04:34: and that was really applicable for my practice, and I think it was an amazing study.

00:04:40: Deepa Gandhi: The third one was the implementation of advanced nurse practice,

00:04:43: which is really close to my heart, in the field of endoscopy in Austria.

00:04:48: Deepa Gandhi: So most countries have really good advanced nurse practice,

00:04:52: like the UK would know, whereas in a lot of other countries,

00:04:56: it's still in its root stage and people are trying to learn from other countries.

00:05:01: Deepa Gandhi: So again, that was another exemplary abstract for me.

00:05:06: Mary Phillips: Fantastic.

00:05:07: Mary Phillips: And you've talked about already with the advances in capsule endoscopy,

00:05:10: but were there any other new patient care,

00:05:13: educational technology things that really jumped out at you from the programme?

00:05:17: Deepa Gandhi: Yeah, from the technology point of view,

00:05:22: one of the things that stood out for me from the hands-on training sessions was the

00:05:26: variceal banding kit by one of the companies,

00:05:29: which traditionally what we use is through the scope.

00:05:32: Deepa Gandhi: And this was alongside the scope,

00:05:34: which actually minimises the time for loading and how effective it is when there's

00:05:40: an active bleed.

00:05:41: Deepa Gandhi: And sometimes it can be very chaotic when there's a patient bleeding with variceal

00:05:45: bleeds.

00:05:45: Deepa Gandhi: And how quickly you can do it within 15 seconds,

00:05:48: loading and deploying the band, which I think is really,

00:05:53: it's a game changer for practice.

00:05:56: Deepa Gandhi: So even for the patients, because it's quick application and it will resolve the

00:06:01: bleeding and it will stabilise the bleeding patient.

00:06:04: Deepa Gandhi: So that stood out to me from the technology point of view and from the education

00:06:09: point of view, there was a presentation from one of the nurses in the UK about the

00:06:14: role of clinical education facilitator in endoscopy.

00:06:19: Deepa Gandhi: Again, we have a lot of workflow changes and there's a lot of nurses who come and

00:06:23: go.

00:06:24: Deepa Gandhi: So it's great to have a clinical educator based in endoscopy because we're a

00:06:29: specialist area.

00:06:30: Deepa Gandhi: We need to train nurses adequately.

00:06:32: Deepa Gandhi: And help them to come along to, you know, work effectively in the services.

00:06:38: Deepa Gandhi: The other thing for patients was a study was done by one of

00:06:44: the nurses in the UK, how the nurses assess disease burden in patients with Crohn's

00:06:50: disease.

00:06:51: Deepa Gandhi: And it was a measurement tool that was used.

00:06:53: Deepa Gandhi: And I liked the way the MDT approach was, you know, it was based on

00:06:57: Deepa Gandhi: how dietitians and clinical psychologists can come along for these

00:07:03: patients because there is an increased burden load of the disease and how they can

00:07:07: actively manage that.

00:07:09: Deepa Gandhi: So these were kind of the new things for me in patient care,

00:07:13: education and technology.

00:07:16: Mary Phillips: Amazing.

00:07:17: Mary Phillips: One of the fantastic aspects of UEG is having all of that hands-on technology

00:07:21: available to practise with as well, isn't it?

00:07:23: Mary Phillips: There was a big focus this year on the impact on patients and on long-term outcomes.

00:07:28: Mary Phillips: So in pancreas and liver transplant and after bile duct injuries,

00:07:33: there were sessions dedicated to the long-term impact on the patient.

00:07:36: Mary Phillips: But interestingly, this year also on acute pancreatitis as well,

00:07:40: looking beyond their actual hospital admission and the need for long-term

00:07:43: surveillance and that

00:07:45: Mary Phillips: increased risk of developing diabetes in the long term,

00:07:48: as well as the cancer risk for patients with an idiopathic pancreatitis diagnosis.

00:07:53: Mary Phillips: So that whole drive towards long-term follow-up and the importance of the disease

00:07:57: burden and the impact of ongoing symptoms on the patient really came through as an

00:08:01: educational thread this year, I thought, which was amazing.

00:08:06: Mary Phillips: Okay, so one of the things that UEG prides itself on is bringing in the young

00:08:11: researchers and people who are new both clinically and academically into the field.

00:08:17: Mary Phillips: Is there any advice that you would give somebody who was thinking about maybe

00:08:21: attending next year?

00:08:23: Deepa Gandhi: I think it really attracts the young nurses as well because it's a chance for them

00:08:28: to expand their knowledge and improve their work performance.

00:08:32: Deepa Gandhi: It also gives them a chance for networking with nurses who are there advanced in

00:08:36: years in endoscopy, in gastroenterology.

00:08:40: Deepa Gandhi: We offer 15 sessions for nurses.

00:08:42: Deepa Gandhi: We have live endoscopy demonstrations.

00:08:45: Deepa Gandhi: The full UEG Week programme is available for all nurses so they can dip in and dip

00:08:49: out into any room they want according to their

00:08:53: Deepa Gandhi: specialty, and that's the beauty of the UEG Week, is it's not just one thing,

00:08:57: you know, it's not one size fits all.

00:08:59: Deepa Gandhi: You can go according to what your specialty is and focus on that.

00:09:03: Deepa Gandhi: And we also give a lot of opportunities for hands-on training for the nurses to

00:09:08: become tutors if they want to bring in their skills.

00:09:10: Deepa Gandhi: And it's a learning experience for both.

00:09:12: Deepa Gandhi: We have a lot of opportunity for free papers and poster sessions and the

00:09:16: postgraduate course, the satellite symposia.

00:09:19: Deepa Gandhi: So there's a lot to offer for both the young and the old or the experts in the

00:09:25: service.

00:09:26: Deepa Gandhi: So that would be my message for anyone who's looking forward to come to UEG Week

00:09:31: next year.

00:09:32: Deepa Gandhi: It's an amazing time to meet with like-minded professionals and share the knowledge.

00:09:37: Mary Phillips: And with such a diverse programme, we're still finding that, you know,

00:09:40: UEG finished a couple of days ago,

00:09:42: but there were so many parallel sessions that we're still watching them back on the

00:09:46: app just to make sure we didn't miss anything because there was such a massive

00:09:49: programme.

00:09:50: Mary Phillips: So you're getting a real value for money.

00:09:52: Mary Phillips: It's much more than the four days of the

00:09:55: Mary Phillips: of the actual attendance on the conference,

00:09:57: you've got weeks worth of educational resource there to read and look up on.

00:10:01: Mary Phillips: And I agree entirely that opportunity to meet experts in their field and people new

00:10:07: into their field and to get a different perspective on work that you might have been

00:10:11: doing for a long time or that you're new into is a real advantage to UEG.

00:10:16: Mary Phillips: And they provide so many networking opportunities.

00:10:19: Mary Phillips: There's women in GI networking.

00:10:20: Mary Phillips: There was a new nutrition hub this year.

00:10:23: Mary Phillips: And there's new early career researchers opportunities.

00:10:26: Mary Phillips: So whichever clinical background you come from,

00:10:28: there's a huge amount of opportunity for that networking and education within the

00:10:33: conference.

00:10:35: Mary Phillips: So do you think there is anything particular in nursing that you would really love

00:10:38: to see in UEG next year?

00:10:42: Deepa Gandhi: One of my things that I would like to see is, you know,

00:10:46: where nurses have suffered with burnout,

00:10:49: you'd like to see more sessions on work-life balance and wellness combating burnout.

00:10:54: Deepa Gandhi: So if that can be a focus for nurses, because that is something that is

00:10:58: Deepa Gandhi: all nurses are facing it at all times because there's a demand versus supply issue

00:11:03: with the nursing workforce.

00:11:06: Deepa Gandhi: And when you are in a specialist area and you see a quick turnover of nursing

00:11:10: personnel, that can be quite demanding.

00:11:14: Mary Phillips: It's such an educational need as well, isn't it?

00:11:15: Mary Phillips: It takes so long to get to that expert field that we need to keep those staff and

00:11:21: keep them healthy and optimise their wellbeing for as long as we can, don't we?

00:11:26: Mary Phillips: Brilliant.

00:11:26: Mary Phillips: And were there any other particular highlights,

00:11:28: anything else you wanted to mention on this podcast?

00:11:33: Deepa Gandhi: One of the talks was given by one of the nurses in Italy about

00:11:38: what can go wrong during a water immersion ESD.

00:11:45: Deepa Gandhi: And what really stood out is the way he presented.

00:11:48: Deepa Gandhi: It wasn't just a mundane PowerPoint presentation.

00:11:51: Deepa Gandhi: It was how he used AI to actually simulate a live endoscopy session,

00:11:56: which was actually not going on anywhere.

00:11:59: Deepa Gandhi: And I think that was amazing.

00:12:01: Deepa Gandhi: And it's not just, you know, bringing the subject matter to the people,

00:12:05: but it's to how do you captivate the audience and how you keep them engaged.

00:12:09: Deepa Gandhi: So we were all looking to, you know, learn these new skills,

00:12:13: which again is so important and how to embrace AI where it can be,

00:12:17: you know, suitably used.

00:12:18: Deepa Gandhi: I think that was amazing talk by the Italian nurse for us.

00:12:22: Mary Phillips: And linking in with the plenary session with the guest speakers talking about how AI

00:12:27: is being implicated and utilised throughout the health service.

00:12:32: Mary Phillips: It's a new technology opportunity for all of us.

00:12:35: Mary Phillips: Brilliant.

00:12:37: Mary Phillips: One of the things that I love about UEG is the multidisciplinary aspect to

00:12:42: case-style presentations.

00:12:43: Mary Phillips: And there was an amazing presentation chaired by Monika Rau and Luca

00:12:49: Havelda this year, looking at the refeeding syndrome and how

00:12:53: Mary Phillips: that was managed in an anorexia nervosa case study with some great presentations

00:12:58: talking about the physiology,

00:13:00: pathophysiology and identification of refeeding syndrome,

00:13:04: but also linking that into enteral and parenteral nutrition in a really complicated

00:13:07: case study.

00:13:09: Mary Phillips: with some really fantastic speakers bringing in the clinical management from a

00:13:13: gastroenterology and a biochemical perspective with the nursing impacts and the

00:13:18: impacts on the dietitian and the psychological aspects of the patient as well,

00:13:22: which I think often overlooked in some clinical presentations.

00:13:25: Mary Phillips: So that's been a real focus in developing that multidisciplinary team across not

00:13:30: only different disciplines in medicine,

00:13:33: but through nursing and allied health professionals and psychology as well,

00:13:36: which is a

00:13:37: Mary Phillips: was a real highlight for me this year.

00:13:38: Mary Phillips: I was privileged of chairing a couple of sessions,

00:13:41: but moderating that particular session, which was a real honour.

00:13:45: Mary Phillips: So the team had put a huge amount of work into developing it,

00:13:47: which was absolutely amazing to see.

00:13:51: Mary Phillips: Brilliant.

00:13:52: Mary Phillips: Fantastic.

00:13:53: Mary Phillips: So for next year, there's a huge diverse programme again coming up for UEG.

00:13:58: Mary Phillips: Do you have any last thoughts or pearls of wisdom for people who are going to attend

00:14:02: next year to make the most out of UEG?

00:14:06: Deepa Gandhi: I think a lot of people are quite interested and it's how the word gets out and how

00:14:11: we bring it back to our workplaces and say, hey, this is going on,

00:14:15: would you like to attend?

00:14:17: Deepa Gandhi: And one of the other things that's really stood out and the nurses are really

00:14:19: looking forward to doing is we have an ESGENA quiz at the end of the session and

00:14:25: with winning prizes of a free registration for nurses to attend the next few

00:14:30: conferences.

00:14:31: Deepa Gandhi: And I think that was an amazing, it's the end of the session,

00:14:36: about five to six o'clock, and it's amazing to see the whole room filled with nurses

00:14:41: because they're so enthusiastic to join it and participate in the quiz.

00:14:45: Deepa Gandhi: It's actually a fun environment as well, but it's just, it's really good.

00:14:49: Deepa Gandhi: So yeah, that's something that we will again do next year, which is great.

00:14:54: Mary Phillips: Fantastic.

00:14:54: Mary Phillips: Well, I think we're both really looking forward to UEG next year.

00:14:58: Mary Phillips: So we look forward to seeing you then.

00:15:00: Mary Phillips: Thank you very much.

00:15:01: Deepa Gandhi: See you again.

00:15:02: Deepa Gandhi: Thank you.