Does UK medical education provide doctors with sufficient skills and knowledge to manage patients with eating disorders safely?

Abstract

Eating disorder teaching is minimal during the 10-16 years of undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in the UK. Given the risk of mortality and multimorbidity associated with these disorders, this needs to be urgently reviewed to improve patient safety.

Eating disorders and nutritional education taught well: the experience of medical undergraduates

“…It is because of our personal experiences that we were disappointed to read the average time dedicated to eating disorder teaching in medical schools was under 2 hours 1. We feel that by sharing our experiences of education on eating disorders and nutrition, we will be able to support those involved with designing medical curricula.…”

“…Interestingly, Ayton et al state that 50% of medical schools do not include questions on eating disorders in their final undergraduate medical examinations 1. It is not clear if the authors considered that medical schools such as BSMS assess eating disorders throughout the curriculum and not solely at medical school finals.…”

“…However, we do acknowledge that placements directly with eating disorder specialists is restricted. As the authors highlight in their article, that there are under 100 eating disorder specialists in the country1 which is insufficient to supervise placements for almost 40 000 medical undergraduates during their training 3. Ayton et al argue that medical schools are not placing enough emphasis on the teaching of eating disorders implying that there is little demand for the teaching 1.…”

“…As the authors highlight in their article, that there are under 100 eating disorder specialists in the country1 which is insufficient to supervise placements for almost 40 000 medical undergraduates during their training 3. Ayton et al argue that medical schools are not placing enough emphasis on the teaching of eating disorders implying that there is little demand for the teaching 1. The issue is not the demand for teaching but the limited supply of qualified teachers as there is simply an inadequate number of professionals available.…”

“…The authors also imply that the General Medical Council (GMC) does not appreciate the importance of eating disorders by drawing attention to the lack of recognition of eating disorder psychiatry as a subspeciality 1. We consider this to be a misleading statement as the Greenaway Report published in 2013 called for the cessation of the formation of any new subspecialties to promote ‘generalists’.…”