ACEP Clinical Policy: Sedation of Severely Agitated Patients

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The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) just released a clinical policy on the management of emergency department patients presenting with severe agitation. This podcast reviews the clinical policy. We previously covered parenteral agents and a small trial of ketamine in this podcast. The policy committee was unable to make any Level A recommendations due to limitations in included studies. The recommendations the clinical policy committee was able to make are based largely on class II studies. This field of research is limited by few direct, head-to-head comparisons of medications using similar doses via the same route, resulting in some indirect evidence and conclusions.

Disclosure: Lauren Westafer is a member of the ACEP Clinical Policy Committee but the views and opinions represented in this post/podcast are hers alone and do not represent those of the ACEP Clinical Policy Committee.