I had the opportunity to respond to questions submitted to me by my institution's
peer review committee regarding my care of an agitated, violent patient who received
ketamine to control violent behavior and permit evaluation. This was an interesting
and complex case. The patient was taken to the emergency department (ED) by paramedics
after he jumped from a bridge approximately 30 feet into a river. He presented with
mild hypothermia and moderate hypertension and was initially cooperative with the
evaluations, including radiological testing and blood draws. After returning from
the radiology department (where computed tomography scans proved negative for serious
injury), this large, muscular patient leaped from his bed, threatened violence to
multiple staff members, exited his room suddenly to attack a staff member, and was
tackled to the ground.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 20, 2018
Accepted:
December 26,
2017
Received in revised form:
December 22,
2017
Received:
December 5,
2017
Footnotes
Reprints are not available from the authors.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
