ADDONS / SCALES
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)
Created 28/09/2022, last revision 01/10/2022
- Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) assesses the impairment of conscious level based on response to defined stimuli; it is used in acute medical and trauma patients
- observe eye-opening, motor, and verbal responses; check for interfering factors
- stimulation used:
- sound: spoken or shouted request
- physical: pressure on fingertip, trapezius, or supraorbital notch
- score the highest response observed
- GCS has been incorporated into many clinical guidelines and scoring systems
- normal GCS: GCS10 / E3V4M3
| Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS 3-15) | |
| Eye-opening |
|
| 4 | spontaneous |
| 3 | to sound (after spoken or shouted request) |
| 2 | to pressure (after fingertip stimulus) |
| 1 | none (no opening; no interfering factor) |
| Motor response | |
| 6 | obeys commands (obeys 2-part request) |
| 5 | localizing pain (brings hand above clavicle to stimulus on head/neck) |
| 4 | normal flexion (escape from pain) – rapid, arms away from the body |
| 3 | decorticate posturing (abnormal flexion) – arms across chest, forearms rotate, legs extend  |
| 2 | decerebrate posturing (extension)  → more about decorticate and decerebrate posturing here |
| 1 | none (no movement in arms/legs, no interfering factor) |
| Verbal response | |
| 5 | oriented (correctly gives name, place, and date) |
| 4 | confused (not orientated but communicating coherently) |
| 3 | words (single intelligible words) |
| 2 | sounds (only moans/groans) |
| 1 | none (no audible response, no interfering factor) |
