r/emergencymedicine Jun 20 '25

Advice Ketamine-- how to prepare patients?

Hi folks, ER nurse here. I'm curious how you talk to patients about ketamine admin for procedures or for intractable pain relief. I give it fairly often but I still haven't found the right way to prepare patients (or parents of littles) for the psychotropic effects. I've never used ketamine personally, but it seems to be a very intense experience that ought to be part of the informed consent conversation. What is our ethical obligation?

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u/Code3Lyft Jun 20 '25

I don't. Not sure what doses you're using but there's a pain/psycho/sedation dose range and we can reliably hit pain without the other effects.