"...Take it from an old hand at this. If a drunk patient is unco-operative, there is always a nice, quiet jail cell where they can go and rest until they have slept off the booze. Suturing up a wound the following day does not produce as nice a result as immediate closure, but so what? The patient has indicated to you that s/he would like a lousy-looking scar by their very combativeness. Unless you have very strong reasons to suspect a dangerous head injury, or some other life-threatening problem, in the drunk person, there is no need to provide any medical service that might put you or your nurses in harm’s way..."
Full article here.
As one who had delivered a few stroppy piss-pots to ED, I could not agree more!
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