Abstract
The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is an easy to use tool for assessing neurological function and brain injury in comatose patients particularly in acute stages of traumatic injury or illness. Due to the simplicity of the scale, however, proper training is often overlooked limiting its usefulness. This manuscript describes the basic components of the GCS and the proper scoring method to elicit accurate evaluations.
MeSH terms
-
Arousal
-
Awareness
-
Brain Injuries / diagnosis
-
Brain Injuries / physiopathology
-
Coma / diagnosis
-
Coma / physiopathology
-
Eyelids / physiopathology
-
Glasgow Coma Scale* / standards
-
Humans
-
Motor Skills
-
Neurologic Examination / methods*
-
Neurologic Examination / nursing
-
Neurologic Examination / standards
-
Nursing Assessment / methods*
-
Nursing Assessment / standards
-
Predictive Value of Tests
-
Reproducibility of Results
-
Sensitivity and Specificity
-
Verbal Behavior