The British Hospital’s Eating Disorders Unit is a continental reference

The Eating Disorders Unit (UTA) began its activities in August of 2002, taking as principal reference and inspiring on the work model from the Texas Children’s Hospital of Houston, which is part of the College of Medicine of Baylor University. “It started as a necessity, due to a patient that we had 16 years ago who had been born extremely premature, weighing 900 grams, who had great surgical problems and of alimentation afterwards “, recalled Dr Daniela Armas, director of the UTA since its founding. “We were lucky that she was able to receive her surgery at the Texas Children’s Hospital, and from that case emerged lessons that allowed us not only to try to replicate the unit that we saw at Houston but also to start to develop knowledge from Uruguay”, she appreciated. Armas recalled that the case of that first patient helped them to learn that she had a difficulty for swallowing: “we learnt that the use of pacifier or non-nutritive suction and the ability to ‘eat’ or nutritive suction are two entirely different things and therefore the use of pacifier, for example, doesn’t imply the ability to feed”. It’s understood as a feeding disorder “the negation or the inability to ingest food”, pointed out the specialist and added that “this includes all the eating and swallowing disorders”. Eating disorders can be classified into organic, functional and behaviour disorders although “an eating disorder is never pure, it’s always mixed. It can start as organic but is always associated to later behaviour problems”. Drawing from the premise that “feeding and swallowing requires an interdisciplinary team” the UTA is constituted by gastroenterologists, paediatricians, speech therapists, psychologists, nutritionist and occupational therapist, all of them being references in their respective professional areas. It all starts with the consultation to the UTA, generally after being referred by the paediatrician, an extensive interview and the observation of the child while feeding. “The examination doesn’t finish if we don’t watch the child feeding” pointed out Armas and recalled that the British Hospital has for such purpose a specially conditioned room that allows the observation from the outside of what happens in it, known as the Gessell Chamber. The UTA aims to “offer medical services to children with difficulties in feeding and swallowing, making adapted treatment plans to each child and each family” and she added that it has as main goal to increase the life quality for both. The incidence of eating disorders is about 25 to 35% in normal children, from 40 to 70% in premature newborns or in children with chronical diseases and it rises up to 80 to 90% in patients with neurological diseases. The technological improvements and the higher specialization of the intensive care units allowed an increase in the severe premature newborn survival rate. More than 30% of the children that are assisted at the UTA are premature. Armas contended that the UTA “is the only one that works this way in Latin America. It’s a reference for Uruguay and for Latin America. Patients from all over the country and also from abroad come to the UTA. It’s an honour for us and for the British Hospital”. The founding, growth and consolidation of the UTA at the British Hospital is framed up in its permanent policy of assuring its members the highest health care services quality standards.