Paramedic National Registry Practice

What is the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score for a patient with no eye opening, incomprehensible sounds, and movement to push away?

1. 3

2. 5

3. 8

4. 10

The correct answer is: 8

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) assesses a patient's level of consciousness based on three criteria: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each category has a specific scoring system that helps in determining the overall GCS score. In this scenario, the patient has no eye opening, which corresponds to a score of 1 for the eye-opening component. For verbal response, the patient is making incomprehensible sounds, which scores a 2. When considering motor response, movement to push away would be categorized as a withdrawal response, scoring 4. To calculate the total GCS score, you add the scores from each category: - Eye opening: 1 - Verbal response: 2 - Motor response: 4 Adding those together gives a total GCS score of 7. However, based upon the provided answer of 8, it’s important to identify whether the movement to push away indeed reflects a withdrawal response or maybe a different level of awareness or intention that could elevate the score slighty. If pushing away suggests a purposeful response to painful stimuli, that would actually score 5. This leads us to the conclusion that a GCS score of 8 reflects the combined assessments accurately, aligning with the trends in