Inpatient Medical Behavioral Unit

Rady Children's Hospital and UCSD have joined forces to open the only child and adolescent medical behavioral inpatient unit in San Diego. The primary purpose of this unit is to provide multidisciplinary treatment to children and adolescents with comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions. MBU is staffed by a combination of professionals with medical expertise, mental health, and behavioral experience. Staff includes nurses, licensed psychiatric technicians, dietitians, mental health providers, adolescent medicine specialists and child psychiatry.

Eating Disorders: Our Medical Stabilization Unit has dedicated inpatient beds for medical stabilization of patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and related eating/feeding disorders. This includes those with abnormal cardiovascular function or those who are severely underweight and require nutritional restoration under expert care. These medical services are also available to young adults. Our understanding of the cause of eating disorders is changing. Considerable recent evidence shows that working in alliance with the family significantly improves outcome and reduces relapse. Thus, after medical stabilization we offer a transition to the UCSD Eating Disorders Family-Based (Maudsley) Treatment Program which is located at Rady Children’s Hospital.

The eating disorders program is led by world-renowned expert in eating disorders: Walter Kaye, MD, Professor of Psychiatry. Medical treatment for eating disorders is managed by UCSD physicians, Drs. Kay Rhee, Karen Loper and Maya Kumar.

Once Admitted, The Eating Disorders Team Provides

• Initial assessment, family therapy and individual therapy.
• Dietary assessment from a Registered Dietitian to help with weight restoration.
• Fully supervised meals
• Behavioral interventions to restore weight in anorexia nervosa, provide exposure therapy for feeding disorders, and stop the binge/purge cycle of bulimia
• Therapy groups using evidence-based and best-practice treatments such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Following medical stabilization, the eating disorder patient’s care may be continued with family-based day treatment provided by the UCSD Eating Disorders Program. Other patients will be referred to Rady Children's Outpatient Psychiatry or other individualized outpatient care. Our expert team will ensure a smooth transition to the appropriate outpatient services. Our goal is to deliver the best medical, behavioral and nutritional care to help the patient stabilize medically, followed by a strong outpatient plan to ensure a successful recovery.