The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a neurological assessment scale used to measure a person’s level of consciousness. A neurological examination of a patient with a traumatic brain injury should be simple, objective, and quick. Assessing the level of consciousness is the most important parameter to consider.
Ambiguous terms such as stuporous, drowsy, unconscious, or comatose should be avoided, as they are subjective and do not provide certainty regarding the patient’s clinical course. For this reason, the use of the GCS has become widespread.
The Glasgow Coma Scale uses three parameters that have proven to be highly reproducible among different observers: verbal response, eye response, and motor response. The lowest score is 3 points, while the highest score is 15 points.
Glasgow Coma Scale
It should be broken down into each section, and the best response should always be scored. The systematic application of this scale at regular intervals makes it possible to obtain a clinical profile of the patient’s progress.
The GCS uses a scoring system based on three criteria:
- Best eye opening (maximum, 4 points)
- Best verbal response (maximum, 5 points)
- Best motor response (maximum, 6 points)
Once the neurological examination has been performed, it is possible to establish a category for the severity of the trauma. From there, the professional can define an initial prognosis and, most importantly, determine the next diagnostic and therapeutic steps.
These scores are added to provide a total score between 3 and 15.
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