Podcast 710: Droperidol vs. Zyprexa

<p><strong>Contributor: Nick Tsipis, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Prospective trial studied 5 mg IM droperidol to 10 mg IM olanzapine (Zyprexa) in the reducing levels of agitation</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Time to adequate sedation was about 16 minutes for both agents</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Droperidol was slightly less sedating than olanzapine and length of stay for olanzapine was longer</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Olanzapine had a higher rate of requiring another agent for adequate sedation</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Droperidol had a higher rate of adverse events (mainly extrapyramidal symptoms) than olanzapine</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Remember to put the safety of the staff and patient at the forefront of sedation practices and be cognizant of the psychological effect of giving involuntary medications to patients</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cole JB, Stang JL, DeVries PA, Martel ML, Miner JR, Driver BE. A Prospective Study of Intramuscular Droperidol or Olanzapine for Acute Agitation in the Emergency Department: A Natural Experiment Owing to Drug Shortages. Ann Emerg Med. 2021;78(2):274-286. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.01.005</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">AMA PRA Category 1 credits™</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">via online course modules. To access th