• Frances Rudolf, Kathryn Hollenbach, Keri L Carstairs, and Shaun D Carstairs.
• J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 2019 May 1; 24 (3): 234-237.

ObjectivesAn increasing number of pediatric patients with psychiatric chief complaints present to emergency departments (EDs) nationwide. Many of these patients require treatment with antipsychotic medications to treat agitation. We sought to examine the use of antipsychotic medications in pediatric patients presenting to a tertiary care pediatric ED.MethodsWe performed a retrospective electronic medical record review of patients presenting to a tertiary care pediatric hospital from January 2009 through February 2016 with a psychiatric chief complaint who received an antipsychotic medication in the ED.ResultsA total of 229 patients were identified, 54.1% of whom were male. Mean age was 14.4 ± 2.6 years. Commonly administered medications included olanzapine (51.1%), aripiprazole (26.6%), haloperidol (24.0%), and risperidone (11.8%). Eighty-seven patients (38.0%) were given at least 1 intravenous or intramuscular dose of antipsychotic medication. A total of 113 patients (49.3%) received only 1 antipsychotic medication, 65 (28.4%) received 2, 30 (13.1%) received 3, and 21 (9.2%) received 4 or more antipsychotics. Median length of stay (minutes) increased significantly with increasing number of medications administered (p < 0.001). Length of stay was significantly shorter in patients given only oral medications (675.6 minutes, IQR 418-1194) compared to those given at least one intramuscular or intravenous dose (951 minutes, IQR 454-1652) (p = 0.014).ConclusionsIn this retrospective series, the majority of patients were treated with newer oral antipsychotics. Administration of multiple medications was associated with a significantly longer length of stay in the ED, as was parenteral administration of antipsychotics.

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