title: [Drug management of agitation in emergency departments: theoretical recommendations and studies of practices].
abstract: Management of agitation is a frequent problematic of emergency departments that often leads to feelings of insecurity among clinicians. There are various practices regarding the drugs to be used in the management of agitations. Guidelines have been proposed by different groups of experts concerning the antipsychotic drugs that should be used for agitations in psychiatric conditions. Nevertheless, there is no clear-cut procedure referring to the utilization of intramuscular drugs in this situation. Moreover, there is no comparison available between the commonly used medications and other drugs, both in terms of superiority of efficacy and tolerance. In order to accurately assess these practices, evaluation protocols must minimize the interference with the service organization and the routine care. Further studies are required in order to develop guidelines about medications that have to be used to handle agitations, which must be based on robust evidence and applicable to emergency services.
authors.affiliation: Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Centre hospitalier universitaire de Lille, laboratoire de neurosciences fonctionnelles et pathologies, université Lille Nord-de-France, 59037 Lille, France. Electronic address: horn.mathilde@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mathilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horn
authors.affiliation: Centre hospitalier universitaire de Lille, laboratoire de neurosciences fonctionnelles et pathologies, université Lille Nord-de-France, 59037 Lille, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vaiva
authors.affiliation: Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dumais
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D001569:Benzodiazepines