Autism Screams in the ED

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

4:40pm – 5:00pm ET

Location: Sandringham/Windsor - 2nd Level

CE: 0.25 CME Credit

Speaker(s)

Whitney Deal, MD (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor Department of Emergency Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Session Moderator(s)

Kathleen Stephanos, MD, FAAEM (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics
University of Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Disclosure(s):

Whitney Deal, MD: No financial relationships to disclose

The flailing limbs and loud screams of a patient in the emergency department typically lead to one thing...a B52. But are these medications safe for an autistic patient? Are you overlooking the underlying medical cause for their agitation? This session will cover the evaluation and management of an agitated autistic patient in the ED. Learn why autistic children and adults come to the ED and how to carefully assess their atypical presentations using the acronym SCREAM. Master the art of de-escalating the agitated autistic patient using the least restrictive approach.

Learning Objectives:

...identify the most common reasons autistic patients come to the ED as well as their atypical presentations.
...de-escalate the agitated autistic patient using the least restrictive approach.
...anticipate trigger moments for patients with ASD and appropriate agents to use for pharmacologic restraint.