What's it like working with people with eating disorders?

[Nickytoto]

Hiya,

When I think about nursing in psych my mind goes back to an episode of RPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Prince_Alfred_Hospital) where a third year trainee RN was working with teen girls with eating disorders. I immediately thought, "I could do that"; this was before I even considered working in mental health. I think I might like to work in a similar setting, and I'd just like to read your experiences about working with people with eating disorders.

Thanks :)

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

My first few years in nursing were on an inpatient psych unit that specialized in treating people with eating disorders in a 4 week program. I really loved it, even though it was quite a challenge. Lots of our patients were college students. They tended to be highly intelligent and quite interesting to talk with. They also were very troubled. It was difficult to help them get well. Sometimes our goal was just to help them get better, not well.

I have lots of stories...one that comes to mind is the evening the patients tp'd the unit while I was occupied talking with one patient. (We had patient checks every 30 minutes and I was within that time frame) It was definitely a Kodak moment, and also a big red flag that there needed to be more staff there than just me!

ahh....memories!

[*ac*]

When I first read this, I thought you meant, working with other nurses who have eating disorders. I thought, well most nurses have eating disorders, don't they?

But to answer your real question, we actually get some of these patients on peds, when the situation is medical and they haven't gotten a psych placement yet. It's interesting - usually a very interesting family dynamic going on.

[inthesky]

From my non-clinical perspectives.. people with eating disorders are some of the kindest, smartest, most altruistic, most manipulative, self-destructive liars you will ever meet. I have considered working with the population, but I'm not sure I have the endurance for it.

[sweetieann]

sorry this response is a bit late. i actually work on an eating disorders floor in a locked psychiatric facility. it us a 20 bed unit (10 adult beds, 10 kid beds), but often we also have at least a few non-ed patients because there weren't beds on other floors. anyway-I love this population, but it does take a TON of patience. they are often very very intelligent young women (and men!) but this intelligence really means you have to be on top of your game as they can try to trick you regularly. also, sometimes it's hard to watch someone struggle sooo much with having to drink, say, a 60 calorie fruit juice. to them--it's the end of the world. you have to remind yourself of the underlying issus these people have. overall-working with the ED population is good because it's a mix of psych AND fragile medical stuff. you haven't seen crazy lab values until you've seen an ED pt's labs. i like it, but some psych nurses absolutely hate the idea of working with this popultion.