Agitation is a distressing and dangerous behavior for all involved.

To study a protocol effectiveness and safety.

The time when the protocol was initiated and when the agitation was controlled, the number of doses needed and the complications observed were recorded.

One hundred and thirty-five inpatients of a palliative care service were included. The most frequent diagnosis was head and neck cancer, 37 (27%). The protocol was used 584 times, from 1 to 31 times on each patient, median of 3 times. Five hundred and thirty-four (91%) agitation episodes were controlled with only the first dose of the protocol, without significant complications.

From those results, it can be said that this protocol is effective and safe.