Acute Agitation

We’re back with another episode of Push Dose Pearls with ED Clinical Pharacist, Haley Burhans! In this episode, we break down the essentials of managing agitation in the ED—starting with why you should avoid diphenhydramine in the elderly and benzodiazepines in the 3 D’s: drunk, delirium, and dementia. We discuss how to quickly assess the cause, choose the right medication, and decide between IM and IV routes. And Haley offers some key safety tips and considerations for special populations, including kids and the elderly. Was this episode helpful? What other medications would you like to learn more about? Hit us up on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com Hosts: Dr. Julia Magaña , Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Dr. Sarah Medeiros , Professor of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guests: Haley Burhans, PharmD , Emergency Medicine Clinical Pharmacist at UC Davis Resources: ACEP’s New Clinical Policy on Severe Agitation. By Molly E.W. Thiessen, MD, FACEP | on February 12, 2024 Pediatric Education and Advocacy Kit (PEAK): Agitation Hoffmann JA, Pergjika A, Konicek CE, Reynolds SL. Pharmacologic Management of Acute Agitation in Youth in the Emergency Department. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2021 Aug 1;37(8):417-422. doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000002510. PMID: 34397677; PMCID: PMC8383287. Gerson R, Malas N, Feuer V, Silver GH, Prasad R, Mroczkowski MM. Best Practices for Evaluation and Treatment of Agitated Children and Adolescents (BETA) in the Emergency Department: Consensus Statement of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry. West J Emerg Med. 2019 Mar;20(2):409-418. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.1.41344. Epub 2019 Feb 19. Erratum in: West J Emerg Med. 2019 May;20(3):537. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.4.43550. Erratum in: West J Emerg Med. 2019 Jul;20(4):688-689. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2019.4.44160. PMID: 30881565; PMCID: PMC6404720. . **** Thank you to the UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine for supporting this podcast and to Orlando Magaña at OM Productions for audio production services.

You can listen to Acute Agitation online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Acute Agitation is an episode from EM Pulse by UC Davis Emergency Department.

This episode is 20:49 long.

This episode was published on Jul 23, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from EM Pulse when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.