Abstract
Objective
This study examined physician residents’ and fellows’ knowledge of eating disorders and their attitudes toward patients with eating disorders.
Methods
Eighty physicians across disciplines completed a survey. The response rate for this survey across disciplines was 64.5 %.
Results
Participants demonstrated limited knowledge of eating disorders and reported minimal comfort levels treating patients with eating disorders. Psychiatry discipline (p = 0.002), eating disorder experience (p = 0.010), and having ≥4 eating disorder-continuing medical education credits (p = 0.037) predicted better knowledge of anorexia nervosa but not bulimia nervosa. Psychiatry residents (p = 0.041), and those who had treated at least one eating disorder patient (p = 0.006), reported significantly greater comfort treating patients with eating disorders.
Conclusion
These results suggest that residents and fellows from this sample may benefit from training to increase awareness and confidence necessary to treat patients with eating disorders. Sufficient knowledge and comfort are critical since physicians are often the first health care provider to have contact with patients who have undiagnosed eating disorders.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by internal funding from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and NIMH T32 MH082761. A special thank you to Jake Greczek for his assistance with the literature review for this paper.
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Institutional review board approval was obtained prior to commencement of this study.
Disclosures
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
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Anderson, K., Accurso, E.C., Kinasz, K.R. et al. Residents’ and Fellows’ Knowledge and Attitudes About Eating Disorders at an Academic Medical Center. Acad Psychiatry 41, 381–384 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0578-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0578-z