We are in the midst of a staggering mental health crisis. Thousands of children and adolescents spend days at time in Emergency Departments waiting for definitive mental health disposition.
There are protocols in place that assist highly trained Emergency Medical Service providers in assuring that agitated children are safely transported to their destination. This podcast episode is all about what prehospital providers should do to get these agitated children safely to the ED.
When we think of managing agitated patients we think of medicines – but that shouldn’t be our first option. However, medications can be adjuncts to non-pharmacologic means to help keep agitated children safe from harm. This podcast episode is all about age-appropriate pharmacologic management strategies for agitated children.
Agitated should always be treated with dignity and respect. This entails utilizing the least invasive non-pharmacologic means of assisting them, before moving to physical or chemical restraints. This podcast episode is all about age-appropriate non pharmacologic management strategies for agitated children. It is also episode 2 in a 5 episode series focused on agitation in children and adolescents.
Most children who present to Pediatric Emergency Departments these days with metal health concerns – including agitation – have a known psychiatric problem or diagnosis. Furthermore, the connection between physical and functional symptoms is inextricably linked in many patients. Why then do we persist with the “is it medical/organic or psych” question?
