Agitation Episode 1: Differentiating organic versus psychiatric

Most children who present to Pediatric Emergency Departments these days with mental health concerns – including agitation – have a known psychiatric problem or diagnosis. Furthermore, the connection between physical and functional symptoms is inextricably linked in many patients. Why then do we persist with the “is it medical/organic or psych” question? Ultimately, this episode hosted by Brad Sobolewski (@PEMTweets) and co-authored by Dennis Ren (@DennisRenMD) is less about “is it psych or not” and more about not missing something because you assumed the patient had a mental or behavioral problem. It is also episode 1 in a 5 episode series focused on agitation in children and adolescents. After listening to this episode you will be able to: * Describe the findings on history and physical examination that differentiate organic vs psychiatric causes of agitation and altered mental status. * Develop a strategy to differentiate organic from psychiatric causes of altered mental status, including using ancillary studies This episode is a co-production of the Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center whose mission is to minimize morbidity and mortality of acutely ill and injured children across the emergency continuum. EMDocs Collaboration EMDocs.net – the excellent Emergency Medicine site will also be contributing a supplementary article for each episode that will be posted each Friday following the release of the podcast episode. These articles will take another look at the content included in this episode. Special thanks to Manpreet Singh, MD (@MprizzleER) for helping to put this collaboration together.  Other Episodes in the Agitation Series Episode 2: Non-pharmacologic management of agitated children (Coming May 24, 2023) Episode 3: Pharmacologic management of agitated children (Coming May 31, 2023) Episode 4: Safe pre-hospital transport of the agitated child (Coming June 7, 2023) Episode 5: Management of the child with mental health problems who is boarded in the Emergency Department (Coming June 14, 2023) EMSC IIC To learn more about the Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center visit https://emscimprovement.center Email [email protected] Follow on Twitter @EMSCImprovement EMSC IIC: Pediatric Education and Advocacy Kit (PEAK): Agitation PEAK Agitation resources * EIIC/TREKK: Care of the Agitated Patient Algorithm *