Abstract
The medical care of patients with severe eating disorders has been an area lacking in literature with a practical orientation. Psychiatric teams can feel ill-equipped for this essential aspect of management, while physicians are unlikely to have managed many patients with these relatively rare conditions. This text will build confidence in both groups.
It provides the reader with a system-by-system coverage of medical issues, including a sense of their frequency, the nursing implications and information for patients. It goes on to discuss how to sort out various physical complaints, such as aches and pains, or presentations, such as loss of consciousness. Nutrition is also given comprehensive coverage with an extraordinary range of potential deficiencies described. In spite of several years experience in this area I learnt a lot.
It is tremendous that the extensive experience of the main authors has been recorded. Fourteen others made contributions or comments for this book, which adds to its depth and breadth, for example, there are chapters on the role of the nurse and the dietitian that are clear and practical. However, the downside is that the chapters do not flow as the styles differ. For instance, the chapter on prepubertal children and younger adolescents is written in the style of a literature review rather than a treatment manual.
About half the book is devoted to the medical perspective, a quarter to treatment and the remainder is divided between specific patient groups, for example, geriatrics, the psychiatric and psychological perspective and discipline-specific roles. Finally, a token three pages give information for families and friends. It is a book that perhaps tries to touch on too many things, but succeeds in its core business.
I expect that it will become an essential handbook for those treating patients with eating disorders and I look forward to its second edition.