Introduction: Medical management of anorexia nervosa is difficult. There are many ethical questions, especially in the case of the treatment without the patient's consent and the threat to his life. It is important for healthcare professionals to establish a trust-based therapeutic relationship with the patient and reflect their expertise. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the ethical aspects of treatment of patients with anorexia nervosa on the basis of ethical considerations, and to identify the issues and dilemmas that healthcare professionals face during treatment, how competent they are for treating such patients, and to determine how patients with anorexia nervosa behave toward the treatment. Methods: A descriptive method of work was used based on a systematic review of domestic and foreign literature, which was sought in the Digital Library of the University of Ljubljana (DiKUL) and the databases MedLine, PubMed, CINAHL, Nursing Ethics, Journal of Eating Disorders, and Science Direct. We restricted the search for articles to a time frame from 2002 to 2019. We included articles in the literature that were related to anorexia nervosa, health care, and ethics. Results: The lack of understanding of the eating disorder, lack of knowledge and experience, and difficulties in establishing a therapeutic relationship for healthcare professionals in dealing with patients with anorexia nervosa, are the most common challenges. Patients are perceiving the treatment of anorexia as a traumatic experience. Healthcare professionals need to establish a proper therapeutic environment in which the patient feels accepted and safe. However, they can only do this by listening to them and understanding their problems. Discussion and conclusion: Healthcare professionals need to have sufficient professional competence and knowledge to provide appropriate medical care in an ethical manner and within it providing the patient an emotional and social support that a patient needs to feel. The lack of knowledge in the field of proper approach to patients with anorexia nervosa makes it difficult for them to treat such patients. Health workers have their own hardships, so they need to be provided with an appropriate ethics training program.
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