In this quality improvement study, emergency physicians successfully adopted oral medications for treating agitation, primarily from intoxication.

Question Can emergency physicians adopt using oral medications as first-line treatment for agitation primarily from intoxication?

Findings In this quality improvement study evaluating 460 600 ED encounters, the proportion of patients receiving their first sedating medication orally increased from 7% to 31% after 1 year of the intervention, while time to adequate sedation and adverse events, measured prospectively during implementation, were not different between oral and intramuscular routes.