Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) Assessment

In this lesson we talk about the Glasgow Coma Scale assessment or GCS. The GCS assessment is one of the most important assessments you can do for your patients and its very quick to perform.

We start with a quick lesson on the background of the Glasgow Coma Scale and what it is used for before we move in to talking about the actual assessment and how to score your patient as well as how those scores relate to the various levels of cognitive functioning that your patient is exhibiting.

The assessment starts talking about scoring your patients eye opening and the different points for the category. From there it goes in to the verbal response and the associated scores there. Finally we cover the motor response and how we score what we see in that category.

Finally we cover some pitfalls and problems to watch out for as well as some general guidelines to help you get the most from your GCS assessment.

Our hope is that after this lesson you will have a better understanding of this assessment and what your are looking for in your patient, as well as the importance of what you are seeing and scoring in the overall context of your patients condition!

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CORRECTION: Thank you @TessaCournoyer for catching this mistake! At 21:41 I wrote E4 after just stating it was E3. You're total score would actually be 9 not 10

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Also check out these other great series of lessons:

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Track: Cadmium - Change Your Mind [NCS Release]
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Track: whogaux - i don't care [NCS Release]
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#Glasgow #GCS #ICUAdvantage

[ICUAdvantage]

Thank you guys so much for watching! Please leave us a like if you enjoyed the video. We truly do appreciate it! Also we love hearing your comments so feel free to tell us what you think of the video. We hope that after this lesson, you will have a good understanding of the simple yet effective and powerful assessment tool called the Glasgow Coma Scale. This assessment will likely be something you perform multiple times a day on each of your patients and you can really utilize this to monitor for the first signs of deterioration in your patients.

[eleonorakhananayeva]

I’m in nursing school and this is the best video I’ve seen for GCS. I’ve been really enjoying your videos.

[shrilayt]

On May 25th last year I was in a road accident. I was wearing my gear so there were no external injuries but my lungs were filled with blood and my brain was bleeding from 5 places from what I understood. My discharge summary says I had a GCS of 5 when I was admitted to the ICU. After watching this I understand why all the doctors said it's a miracle I'm still alive let alone the fact that I have no disabilities and still able to function normally. Got lucky! Phew!!

[SomeBuddy]

Great video, very informative. Explanation was in full, and spot on. I suffered an cerebral aneurysm (SAH) 2009. Following my statement that I had the worst HA in my lifetime, I immediately lost consciousness. Upon arrival of EMS, their eval revealed I was GCS 3. I was airlifted to larger city, developed swelling (angry brain), had coil surgery 3 days later, and was in a coma for 27 days. Following 6 weeks of Phys Rehab, I now walk with a quad cane (balance issues), drive, can do most ADL's without many problems. I cannot write, I also have speech issues, but can read aloud with no trouble. So yes, I bounced back from my GCS of 3. Don't count us out too soon!

[BrainDamageBrian]

i was the loser in a motorcycle-on-SUV accident back in 2012, i sustained a severe diffuse axonal injury with the concentration of the impact being to my prefrontal cortex. i came into the hospital at a 3 on this scale. cadavers score a GCS3. i credit neurofeedback with a great deal of my cognitive recovery, but.. honestly i shouldn't even still be here to tell my story. there's a video on here somewhere about my recovery

[rahilamohammad]

The only video so far that talks in detail about the difference between types of abnormal verbal responses and abnormal motor responses.
Thank you!

[tessachips]

in the first example you gave at minute 22:12: it should be E3, V2, M4 = 9.

[jillthompson]

Well I am an RN and wound up coding 3 days after cardiac bypass surgery from an allergic reaction and spent 4 days tubed and woke up on a vent and thought I was kidnapped and they were trying to kill me.😱 Well, I am reading through my chart and they scored me 11 while tubed and was trying to figure out how they scored me 11 and my dr ordered rass score of -2.
And I opend up utube and there was your lesson on GCS. PERFECT!🎯Thanks for the education!

[anthonyheller]

thanks for this! I've been coding (trauma registrar) for 6+ years now with no background in paramedic/EMT, no nursing, etc. Even though i understand this scale at its basic functionality, this is great information. When reading & assessing documentation, you can see why a patient is given the score they were given. Also, you can ask if you notice any disparities (for clarification, etc.). It's also great to go over things already known as a refresher - or, in case you may have missed anything previously. Cheers!

[vanessamarietorres]

I'm an EMT and headed to a BSN and hopefully an NP one day! This video has been so incredibly helpful. Thank you for taking the time to create this video. ❤ I am subscribed and binging your videos now!

[sierramorgan]

Been binge-watching your videos! Really appreciate you and what you have done!
Would love to see videos on more in-depth neuro assesment (i.e. MEND assesment), managing pts with TBIs, and differences between different LOCs (stupor, obtundation, semi-comatose, comatose, etc.)!

[tutihanisaa.]

Our Midterm examination is about to come that is why I am here. This video is very helpful. Thank you for your virtual help.❣

[jeffersonemiliano]

Great job. I'm finally on my internship on icu and your videos are just amazing. Thank you so much.

[jerky]

Thank you so much! This video is very helpful, i got so confused about gcs before and sometimes get decorticate and decebrate messed up. After watching this i can totally understand now

[TransformWithGod]

Amazing!! I finally understand. Thank you🤎

[bashiribraahin]

Very important video that we get good information about GCS scale

[chloevable]

Thanks for the very informative video!! :) I had a confused patient whom I had to check GCS. And the patient was E4, V4 but for motor response, he did not follow my command when I asked him to move his arms. Instead, he frustratingly gave me the bad middle finger! Lol! I just charted exactly what he did.

[sparktheflame]

So incredibly helpful! I’m so grateful (and I know I’m not alone!) in your thoughtful and well-done explanations of subjects we need to know about as nurses. Thanks again and bless you!

[megham]

Really it's too helpful, you made in easy way to understand

[connorhill]

Extra Value Meal costs $4.56

Eyes-4
Verbal-5
Motor- 6