Hurry Up and “Weight”: Innovative Inter-Professional Outpatient Care for a Service User With Severe Anorexia Nervosa Awaiting Admission to (Specialized Elective) Inpatient Care in Canada

Abstract

Inpatient care for adults with eating disorders in Canada is limited. An innovative outpatient interdisciplinary approach and a service use example are presented. With no current benchmark, this approach may offer a practical solution for outpatient teams seeking to be helpful when service users are left to wait for inpatient care.

Improving Adult Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment: Perspectives of a Sample of Canadians with Lived Experience

“…This leaves patients awaiting admission to IP ED treatment without interim support, as was the case for the majority of this study's participants. MacNeil et al ( 2016)studied an Ontarian woman awaiting IP ED treatment, enrolledher in an outpatient program, and reported increased body weight, increased satisfaction with life, and decreased depressive and anxiety symptoms in the woman [39]. This study suggests that outpatient treatment can bene t those awaiting admission to adult IP ED treatment, despite not meeting outpatient BMI criteria [39].…”

“…Lack of interim support contributed most signi cantly to participants' health decline while awaiting admission to IP ED treatment. According to MacNeil et al ( 2016), publicly funded adult outpatient ED treatment programs across Canada typically require patients to have a BMI of 16 kg/m 2 [39]. Patients with a lower BMI are referred to IP ED treatment as they require medical stabilization.…”

“…MacNeil et al ( 2016)studied an Ontarian woman awaiting IP ED treatment, enrolledher in an outpatient program, and reported increased body weight, increased satisfaction with life, and decreased depressive and anxiety symptoms in the woman [39]. This study suggests that outpatient treatment can bene t those awaiting admission to adult IP ED treatment, despite not meeting outpatient BMI criteria [39]. These ndings in addition to the experiences of participants contributed to the establishment of Recommendation 1: Interim Support, with accessibility of carebeing paramount to its implementation.…”