The objective was to determine a patient's level of psyche pain when they present to an emergency department (ED) and whether there was a relationship between this psyche pain and the patient's level of agitation.

This was a prospective study using a convenience sample of 300 patients presenting to an ED with a psychiatric complaint. This study was conducted in an urban, inner-city trauma center with 60,000 ED visits a year. After obtaining consent, a research fellow administered validated tools for assessing agitation, BAM, PANSS-EC, ACES, assessment of psyche pain, MBPPAS and a self-assessment of agitation at admission. SPSS version 22 was used for statistical analysis and the study was IRB approved.

A total of 74 patients were enrolled at this time. The most common ED diagnoses were depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. Majority of patients were African-American (59%), falling in the 25–44-year-old age range (56%). Fifty-two percent male and 48% female. Psyche pain was rated by MBPPAS as marked (18.9%) or moderate (67.6%). The self-reported tool demonstrated 20% none, 16% mild, 21% moderate and 42% marked level of agitation. The agitation rating varied by the tool with self-reported level of agitation having the highest correlation with level of psyche pain (P < 0.05).

Psychiatric patients frequently present to the emergency department with a high level of psyche pain and high level of self-reported agitation. This correlation may signal the need to address a patients’ level of agitation early in evaluation process.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.