- Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a validated score intended to provide a reliable and objective method for recording and communicating a patient's consciousness.
- It was originally created to assess head injury patients' neurologic status/deficit.
- The scale ranges from 3 (deeply unconscious) to 15 (fully awake).
- It tests the following three responses: (1) eye, (2) verbal, and (3) motor, listed in order of increasing functional significance with regard to status (i.e. optimal eye response assigned lower score (best score = 4), followed by a best score of 5 for verbal response, and optimal motor function being scored at 6.