Eating disorders are frighteningly common, and roughly 9% of people in the United States (nearly 30 million individuals) will experience an eating disorder at some point in their life. While they all revolve around unhealthy eating habits, the progression of each disorder is as unique as the patient it affects.
Eating disorders are also notoriously difficult to spot, hard to diagnose, tough to manage, and they have the potential to precipitate serious and concerning medical conditions. Continuing education is an invaluable component of creating better outcomes, and courses like Eating Disorders - Interprofessional Implications by Premiere are helping healthcare workers across all disciplines understand how to get their patients the care they need. Nurses of any scope are particularly in need of this training as they are often the first medical contact, and some nurses or nurse practitioners specialize in diagnosing and treating eating disorders.
The highly trained professionals in these roles are equipped with the knowledge and skills to be front-line coordinators and administrators of care for people suffering from a wide range of food-related issues. Becoming a nurse who specializes in eating disorders requires an extraordinary amount of work and dedication, but with proper training and resources, they are capable of providing effective treatment for these deadly conditions.
APRN Eating Disorder Specialization
While every nurse should be equipped to recognize the warning signs of eating disorders, becoming a dedicated expert requires advanced training. This means pursuing an APRN degree, certification, and license, which is the first step toward eating disorder specialization.
To become an eating disorder nurse, you must first complete a master’s or doctoral degree program in advanced practice nursing. With concentrations in areas like psychiatric mental health or family practice, APRNs who focus on eating disorders must absorb a tremendous amount of content surrounding
Once the degree program is completed and licensure has been obtained from the state, further specialization is needed to manage a wide range of conditions like:
Anorexia: This eating disorder is characterized by extreme weight loss or a lack of weight gain in children due to self-imposed eating restrictions. Both a mental and a physical condition that can affect people of any size and weight, the treatment of anorexia generally requires behavioral therapy and psychological or psychiatric intervention in coordination with medical care.
Bulimia: A binge-purge disorder associated with control, bulimics often experience body dysmorphia, guilt, shame, and a host of other potential triggers. Eating disorder nurses are tasked with managing multiple treatment aspects and often need to work very closely with therapists and family members to support patients suffering from bulimia.
Binge-Eating Disorder: Like bulimia, binge-eating disorder is characterized by frequent episodes of extreme overeating accompanied by feelings of disgust, guilt, and shame. While sufferers don’t typically purge afterward, it is nonetheless unhealthy behavior that impacts quality of life and can lead to more severe and dangerous conditions.
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): Most often seen in children whose limited eating habits have a serious impact on their caloric intake and overall health, ARFID requires eating disorder nurses to have age-specific expertise and family-oriented skills. There are many angles to consider during treatment, and APRN specialists have to integrate developmental care and age-appropriate interprofessional collaboration options.
Factors that Complicate Treatment
Eating disorders have the potential to impact people of any age, gender, race, or socioeconomic status. They represent a complex intersection of many aspects of healthcare and are nearly as deadly as opioid addiction when it comes to mortality secondary to psychiatric illness.
One of the biggest difficulties of managing eating disorders—and the necessity of eating disorder nurse specialization—is the need for in-depth, individualized care. Treatment often demands attention be given to environmental and modifiable risk factors that contribute to the disease process, and many are outside the scope and expertise of standard nursing roles.
Stress and its associated mental and physical health challenges can result in the development of a range of food-related problems. Eating disorder nurses have to identify and address serious stressors, as well as refer patients to qualified specialists in a variety of therapeutic and occupational disciplines.
Bullying is often a major risk factor for eating disorders, especially in teens. People who have been teased or shamed about their weight by coworkers, associates, friends, family, coaches, or even healthcare providers are at greater risk for developing eating disorders.
Concurrent mental health issues: Patients struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, or OCD may be at elevated risk for eating disorders. APRNs should be thoroughly informed about a patient’s mental health profile and be prepared to coordinate appropriate referrals.
Family history: Eating disorders are more likely to occur in people with parents or siblings who have also experienced an eating disorder. APRNs should be aware of these complications and evaluate possible risk factors.
Coordinating Interprofessional Care and Treatment
The road to recovery from an eating disorder is usually long and hard, and it requires ongoing dedication and commitment. Effective treatment demands a team approach to manage all the aspects of a patient’s circumstances, including mental health professionals, oral care specialists, nutritionists, medical doctors, outpatient treatment providers, and friends and family.
Building an interprofessional care team and sharing appropriate resources is critical to successful recovery, and APRNs will be required to coordinate interactions with specialists in a variety of areas.
Mental Health Providers
Therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists are an essential part of the treatment program from the acute phase through extended recovery. The care and counseling eating disorder nurses provide will be heavily informed by mental health experts.
Programs for mental health can be in-hospital, partial-hospital day programs, residential treatment programs, or outpatient programs, and eating disorder nurse roles may be centered in these facilities or adjunct to them. The selection of the most appropriate program and the coordination of those resources is highly dependent on eating disorder nurses monitoring, managing, and reinforcing mental health protocols.
Nutritionists
In addition to supporting the patient’s mental health, nutritional guidance is critical to establishing normal eating behavior. In addition to complications surrounding food itself, eating disorders can also result in serious metabolic disruption that may have lasting effects.
Even beyond the acute phase of recovery, nutritional counseling will need to be an ongoing process. Working with an individual to assess his or her usual dietary intake and identify areas where change is needed is a critical and active process necessary to keep the patient on target for recovery.
Dental Care
Disorders that involve purging can contribute to a breakdown in dental health over time, and poor nutrition may result in lost teeth, cavities, and a variety of other serious oral complications. Good-quality dental care is often required to address these issues, and eating disorder nurses should be prepared to handle referrals both to and from dental professionals.
Is Becoming an Eating Disorder Nurse Right For You?
The care of patients dealing with eating disorders presents a variety of challenges unique to the specialty. Managing a condition with such complexity requires specialized knowledge and skills in the coordination of care among different specialists.
Eating disorder nurses are equipped with an enhanced knowledge of the big picture and how these resources can best serve the patient. Eating Disorders - Interprofessional Implications created by Premiere’s Megan Arbour PhD, RN, CNM, CNE, and Grant Hunsicker DDS covers common indicators, statistics, and implications of eating disorders, as well as the oral presentation of purging associated with them.
Interprofessional communication, collaboration, and strategies to support patients are addressed in detail and can help nurses in any role identify and manage eating disorders, and more training and continuing education are key. Premiere offers a variety of courses and packages—including an Unlimited Nursing CEU Subscription— to help healthcare professionals meet their ongoing professional and licensure requirements.
