• Siu Fai Li, Amy Kumar, Susan Thomas, Yelena Sorokina, Vanessa Calderon, Elizabeth Dubey, Lani Lee, and Ludmilla Gustave.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10461. Electronic address: litfreak73@gmail.com.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2013 Sep 1;31(9):1402-4.

ObjectiveThe objective of the study is to determine the safety of intravenously administered combination sedatives in the emergency department (ED).MethodsThis was a retrospective study of alcohol-intoxicated patients in the ED. We examined the incidence of adverse events in agitated patients who received combination sedatives intravenously and compared the efficacy of combination sedatives and single-agent sedatives.ResultsOf 1300 patient visits, there was a single adverse event, a dystonic reaction, in the combination sedative group, for an adverse event rate of less than 1%. Patients who received combination sedatives were less likely to require a second dose of sedative medication than patients who received a single-agent sedative (21% vs 44%).ConclusionsCombination sedatives appear to be safe when administered intravenously in the ED. Combination sedatives may be more effective than single-agent sedatives in agitated alcohol-intoxicated patients.© 2013.

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