
Lillian Craggs-Dino, DHA RDN LDN CLT
Chair & IHEC Liaison

Laura Aylward, PhD
Co-Chair
Members
Cynthia Blalock, MSN, AGPCNP-BC
Rheanna Ata Brown, PhD
Danbi Choi, MSN, APRN, NP-C
Gwendolyn Crispell, RN, MSN, CBN
Kasey Goodpaster, PhD, Immediate Past Chair
Karen Grothe, PhD ABPP LP
Haylee Hannah, MS RD LD CSOWM
Carah Horn, MBA-HCA BSN RN
Leah Hurley, MS RD LDN
Kellene Isom, PhD MS RD CAGS
Larissa McGarrity, PhD Clinical Psych Assistant
Jillian Reece, RD LDN
Melissa Santos, PhD
Larissa Silva, LD RDN
Colleen Tewksbury, PhD MPH RD CSOWM LDN
Amanda Van Prooyen, PharmD BCPS
Clinical Issues Committee MD Liaison
Jonathan Carter, MD FASMBS, Chair
ASMBS Staff Liaison
Leslie Vinson
Mission
The mission of the Integrated Health Clinical Issues Committee is to create evidence-based position statements with focus on clinical issues related to the integrated multidisciplinary team as well as issues related to the individual integrated health disciplines with the goal of enhancing the safety, quality and outcomes of bariatric and metabolic surgical patient care.
Description
The ASMBS Clinical Issues Committee represents multiple disciplines of bariatric integrated health professionals with at least one member representing the following disciplines – nursing, behavioral health, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, registered dietitian, and pharmacist. The Committee members are appointed by the IHEC President with input from the Committee Chair and Co-Chair.
Objectives
Prioritize and develop projects and publications and provide evidence-based clinical and practice recommendations using a multidisciplinary approach
a. Identify, develop, and revise best practice recommendations, clinical guidelines, position statements and protocols for the different disciplines within Integrated Health – review and reassess every two years
b. Collaborate with surgeons’ CIC to provide an Integrated Health perspective in their projects, as needed
c. Identify and provide support to the committee/member(s) developing best practices, clinical guidelines, position statements and recommendations
d. Develop protocols for initiating and implementing projects and establish direct communication with IHEC
e. Publicize publications both internally and externally via Communications Committee, as appropriate
2023-2024 Committee Goals
- Online Psych Guidelines (TelePsych Survey) – papers on General Controversies, Qualitative and Quantitative Data
- Consensus Statement on Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band Management
- Review on Fasting for Religious Purposes after Surgery
- Collaborations with surgeon CIC:
a. Statement on Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery for Beneficiaries of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with a Review of the Literature
b. Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) and its Role in the Treatment of Obesity: A Systematic Review - Behavioral Health Adolescent/Pediatric Psych Guidelines
- Cannabis Paper
- Contraceptive Counseling
- Collaborate with the surgeon Clinical Issues Committee on the new 2023 topics
- Review potential and existing statements, papers, and resources
- Develop orientation program for members with possible training models on types of papers and provide training or mentoring within the committee for new members
Specific Projects that Achieve Goals and Objectives:
- Online Psych Guidelines (TelePsych Survey) – the qualitative examination of the free-text responses is complete and the paper is in near-final draft
- Consensus Statement on Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band Management published
- Review on Fasting for Religious Purposes after Surgery published
- Collaborations with surgeon CIC:
a. Statement on Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery for Beneficiaries of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with a Review of the Literature – under final review
b. Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) and its Role in the Treatment of Obesity: A Systematic Review – under ECEC Review - Nutrition Guidelines: Micronutrients – project proposal submitted
- Behavioral Health Adolescent/Pediatric Psych Guidelines – scoping review – have determined their focus and their questions, beginning the literature search/review phase
- Cannabis Paper – in progress
- Contraceptive Counseling Paper – in progress
- Call for statements from membership sent out yearly
- Researching examples of tools commonly used to review manuscripts based on the type of study design
2022-2023 Completed Projects
- ASMBS Review on Fasting for Religious Purposes after Surgery, June 2022
- ASMBS Consensus Statement on Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band Management, August 2022
- Collaborated with the surgeon Clinical Issues Committee on the following published papers:
a. ASMBS Literature Review on the Effect of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Limb Lengths on Outcomes (in press)
b. 2022 ASMBS/IFSO Indications for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Guidelines (replaces 1991 NIH Consensus Statement), October 2022 c. ASMBS Literature Review on Antiobesity Medication Use for MBS Patients, September 2022