New Guidelines In Place To Reduce Deaths From Anorexia
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have recently published a new set of guideline for in- house care patients with anorexia nervosa in hopes of cutting down on the amount of deaths caused by anorexia.
The Guidelines
“The in-patient medical team should contain a physician and a dietician with specialist knowledge in eating disorders, preferably within a nutrition support team, and have ready access to advice from an eating disorders psychiatrist. Key tasks of the in-patient medical team are to: safely refeed the patient, avoid re-feeding syndrome, avoid underfeeding syndrome caused by too cautious rates of re-feeding; manage, with the help of psychiatric staff, the behavioral problems common in patients with anorexia nervosa, such as sabotaging nutrition and arrange transfer to a SEDU without delay as soon as the patient can be managed safely there.” These guidelines have been produced by the MARSIPAN working group, which stands for the Management of Really Sick Patients with Anorexia Nervosa.
Conclusion
The guidelines were developed to help medical personnel treat people with severe anorexia in a medical facility. By the time an individual reaches the stage of hospitalization, they are severely ill and often times they die. Hospital personnel do not always have the special knowledge needed to treat patients with anorexia. The goal of these guidelines is to help the caregivers better understand and become better educated with the eating disorder. Therefore, allowing the caregivers to provide proper care.
Eating Disorder Self Test. Take the EAT-26 self test to see if you might have eating disorder symptoms that might require professional evaluation. All answers are confidential.