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The Agitated Patient in the Emergency Department

  • Behavioral Health (S. Zeller and L. Zun, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A 32-year-old male with a past history of paranoid schizophrenia and methamphetamine use presents to the emergency department requesting help. He is vague in his requests for help and seems paranoid about staff harming him. He is not taking his psychiatric medication. He is directable in triage, but after being placed into a room begins to escalate. By the time the physician and nurse go to see him, he attempts to strike the physician. He is talking loudly and breaks a portable computer. Security must be called immediately to the bedside.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California at San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA

    Michael P. Wilson & Gary M. Vilke

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine Behavioral Emergencies Research (DEMBER) Lab, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Michael P. Wilson, Kimberly Nordstrom & Gary M. Vilke

  3. Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO, USA

    Kimberly Nordstrom

  4. University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Kimberly Nordstrom

Authors
  1. Michael P. Wilson
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  2. Kimberly Nordstrom
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  3. Gary M. Vilke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael P. Wilson.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Behavioral Health.

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Wilson, M.P., Nordstrom, K. & Vilke, G.M. The Agitated Patient in the Emergency Department. Curr Emerg Hosp Med Rep 3, 188–194 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-015-0087-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-015-0087-5

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