Pharmacologic treatment of acute migraine and related headaches in the emergency department

The care that an emergency nurse delivers is critical to the success of treatment of acute headaches. The emergency nurse should obtain a medication history from the patient and offer reassuring information about the relief afforded by prescribed medications and the adverse effects that can occur. Because the best treatment for a patient with recurrent headache syndrome is prevention, the emergency nurse should make sure that appropriate follow-up (e.g., headache specialist or counselor) is arranged before discharge from the emergency department.