Surgery Definition – How to assess the neurological status of the traumatic patient?
Surgery Definition – How to assess the neurological status of the traumatic patient?
There are two ways of assessing the neurological status of traumatic patient which may include the AVPU and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The AVPU is used to determine the present of spontaneous alert which is equivalent to GCS 14 -15, responsive to voice which is equivalent to GCS 9 -10, responsive to pain which is equivalent to GCS 7-8 and unresponsive that is equal to GCS 3.
Glasgow Coma Scale or GCS can be divided into three different elements and is scored based on the best possible response which is out of 15. These include best eye response, best verbal response and best motor response. Best eye response includes no response equal to one point, eye opening due to painful stimuli equal to two point and eye opening to verbal stimuli which is equal to three point and spontaneous eye opening equal to four point.
Best verbal response may include no verbal response equal to one point, making only noise, incomprehensible equal to two point, inappropriate word equal to three point, confusion equal to four point and orientation and lucid response equal to five point.
Best motor response may include no response equal to one point, decerebrate equal to two point, decorticate equal to three point, withdrawal from the source of pain equal to four point, localizing to pain equal to five point and following command equal to six point.
The full motor, verbal and eye response will account for 15 points in total (highest GCS) where the patient is fully aware, alert and awake. The lowest GCS score is 3 mostly in unresponsive and comatose patient. GCS should be repeated every 15 minutes and patient may need to be intubated if the GCS is 8.
There are two ways of assessing the neurological status of traumatic patient which may include the AVPU and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The AVPU is used to determine the present of spontaneous alert which is equivalent to GCS 14 -15, responsive to voice which is equivalent to GCS 9 -10, responsive to pain which is equivalent to GCS 7-8 and unresponsive that is equal to GCS 3.
Glasgow Coma Scale or GCS can be divided into three different elements and is scored based on the best possible response which is out of 15. These include best eye response, best verbal response and best motor response. Best eye response includes no response equal to one point, eye opening due to painful stimuli equal to two point and eye opening to verbal stimuli which is equal to three point and spontaneous eye opening equal to four point.
Best verbal response may include no verbal response equal to one point, making only noise, incomprehensible equal to two point, inappropriate word equal to three point, confusion equal to four point and orientation and lucid response equal to five point.
Best motor response may include no response equal to one point, decerebrate equal to two point, decorticate equal to three point, withdrawal from the source of pain equal to four point, localizing to pain equal to five point and following command equal to six point.
The full motor, verbal and eye response will account for 15 points in total (highest GCS) where the patient is fully aware, alert and awake. The lowest GCS score is 3 mostly in unresponsive and comatose patient. GCS should be repeated every 15 minutes and patient may need to be intubated if the GCS is 8.
