Despite the fact that more than 10% of Americans suffer from migraine, this headache disorder
is often not diagnosed and not appropriately treated. The goal of this proposal is to
determine whether a migraine protocol designed for use in an emergency room can be used to
deliver the headache care that many migraine patients never receive. This is a randomized
trial. Consecutive inadequately treated migraine patients will be randomized to TYPICAL care
or to COMPREHENSIVE care. Those patients in the comprehensive care arm will receive the
following intervention: 1) reinforcement of diagnosis, 2) an adaptable online educational
intervention, reading material, and headache diaries, 3) two migraine specific medications
and 4) expedited referral to a headache specialist, if needed. Patients in the typical care
arm will receive whatever intervention the emergency physician feels is most appropriate.
Headache surveys will be used toll if the protocol improves migraine-related pain and
functional disability one month after the ER visit.