What is it about?
There has been a 79% increase in the number of adults admitted to UK hospitals with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa in the last 5 years. Many of these patients will be treated on general wards where the staff have no specialist training in how to managing their condition. Feeding them and replacing vitamins and minerals is the corner stone of their treatment, but this has to be done correctly in order to prevent problems such as severe fluid retention with swelling of limbs or breathing difficulties, a very long hospital stay or even death. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recently launched the Medical Emergencies in Eating Disorders (MEED) guidelines which provide invaluable recommendations on managing these complex patients. This article focuses on implementing them in hospitals with special reference to feeding, vitamin, fluid and slat replacement, as well as feeding through tubes.
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Why is it important?
The number of patients admitted to hospitals with eating disorders is rising but failing to feed them correctly with appropriate energy, vitamins, fluid and mineral replacement can lead to other illnesses, very long hospital stays or even death.
Perspectives
Being a council member of the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition for over 20 years has given me the privilege of working with experts in the field of treating severely malnourished patients including Professor Mike Stroud (Chair of the NICE Guidelines on Nutrition Support), Professor Alan Jackson, Professor Alan Shenkin, Trevor Smith (President of BAPEN) and Professor Paul Robison (Author of the MEED guidelines). Writing this article gave me the welcome opportunity to pass on some of knowledge I have learned from them over the years.
Pete Turner
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Implementation of the medical emergencies in eating disorders in adults guidance on non-specialist units, British Journal of Nursing, July 2023, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2023.32.13.s8.
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