The Evaluation of the Knowledge and Skills of Emergency Department Physicians in Managing Patients with Acute Agitation

INTRODUCTION: Agitated patients make up a significant part of psychiatric emergencies. Intervening with an agitated patient causes the use of a significant part of emergency department (ED) resources. In the present study, the purpose was to evaluate the knowledge and skills of emergency medicine (EM) physicians in agitated patient management and identify the fields they are lacking.
METHODS: A questionnaire was prepared under certain topics for the data collection tool (15 questions). The questions were evaluated in a pilot implementation. A questionnaire prepared in Google Forms was sent to EM resident physicians and EM attending physicians who were working in the ED, through an instant messaging and communication application (WhatsApp).
RESULTS: The response rate was 81% (158 of 195). A total of 158 participants who agreed to participate were included in the study. When the participants’ answers were analyzed, it was found that less than 50% of correct answers were given to the questions that questioned the points to be considered in communication with an agitated patient, pharmacotherapy in the management of agitated patients, and the purpose of the verbal de-escalation technique.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: EM physicians should be trained more in the verbal de-escalation technique that can be applied in the management of agitated patients and pharmacotherapy in the management of agitated patients.