Ep 217 Pediatric Agitation: Assessment and Management

Pediatric agitation in the Emergency Department is one of those presentations that can escalate quickly and leave even experienced clinicians feeling on edge. It is high-risk, resource-intensive, and often unfolds in an already overstimulating environment where small missteps can make things worse. At the same time, agitation is not a diagnosis, it is a clinical presentation that may reflect anything from psychiatric illness to delirium, intoxication, trauma, or simply a child overwhelmed by the ED itself. So how do we approach these patients in a way that is safe, systematic, and effective? In this episode with guest experts, Dr. Susan Duffy and Dr. Thomas Chun, we tackle the questions that come up at the bedside: How do we rapidly distinguish mild, moderate, and severe agitation in a way that actually changes what we do next? Which patients are most likely to escalate, and how can we intervene early to prevent that? When should we be worried about a medical or toxicologic cause rather than assuming this is “behavioural”? What does effective verbal de-escalation actually look like in a busy ED, and why does it so often fail? When is a "code white" for emergency security measures truly indicated, and how do we avoid turning it into an escalation trigger? How should we be thinking about medications: what to choose, when to give them, and how to avoid over-sedation? And once the patient is finally calm, how do we make sure we aren't missing the underlying diagnosis? and many more... Please consider a donation to EM Cases to support ongoing high quality Free Open Access Medical Education

You can listen to Ep 217 Pediatric Agitation: Assessment and Management online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep 217 Pediatric Agitation: Assessment and Management is an episode from Emergency Medicine Cases by Dr. Anton Helman.

This episode is 1:22:18 long.

This episode was published on Apr 28, 2026.

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

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Emergency Medicine Cases when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.