Glasgow coma scale (GCS)

Indications: - patients with moderate to severe head injuries Procedure: - consciousness may be assessed by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). - points are assigned & totaled based upon the patient's response to stimuli - range: 3 (unresponsive) to 15 (normal). type of response response points Eye opening spontaneous 4 Eye opening to voice 3 Eye opening to painful stimuli 2 Eye opening never 1 Verbal responses oriented 5 Verbal responses confused 4 Verbal responses inappropriate words 3 Verbal responses unintelligible sounds 2 Verbal responses none 1 Motor responses follows commands 6 Motor responses localizes pain 5 Motor responses withdraws from pain 4 Motor responses flexor response 3 Motor responses extensor response 2 Motor responses none 1 Interpretation: - if score < 8, consider endotracheal intubation Notes: - elderly with a GCS of 14 have a worse prognosis than young adults with a GCS score of 13 [2] - simple finding of 'patient does not follow commands' is as predictive as Glascow Coma Scale [3]

General

numerical rating scale (NRS)

References

Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) 16 American College of Physicians, Philadelphia 2012
Caterino JM et al. Modification of Glasgow Coma Scale criteria for injured elders. Acad Emerg Med 2011 Oct; 18:1014 PMID: 21951715
Hopkins E, Green SM, Kiemeney M, Haukoos JS. A two-center validation of "patient does not follow commands" and three other simplified measures to replace the Glasgow Coma Scale for field trauma triage. Ann Emerg Med 2018 May 2 PMID: 29729813 https://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(18)30312-3/fulltext

Contents

Search