Glasgow Coma Scale

Question

Accepted Answer

Area of Assessment	Response	Score
Eye opening response	Spontaneous—open with blinking at baseline	4
	To verbal stimuli, command, speech	3
	To pain only (not applied to face)	2
	No response	1
Verbal response	Oriented and able to converse	5
	Confused conversation, but able to answer questions	4
	Inappropriate words	3
	Incomprehensible speech	2
	No response	1
Motor response	Obeys commands for movement	6
	Purposeful movement to painful stimulus	5
	Withdraws in response to pain	4
	Flexion in response to pain (decorticate posturing)	3
	Extension response in response to pain (decerebrate posturing)	2
	No response	1

Total Glasgow coma scores (GCS) indicate the level of the coma:

GCS of 3 to 8: a coma, categorized as no eye opening, no ability to follow commands, no word verbalizations
GCS of 8 or less: severe head injury
GCS of 9 to 12: moderate head injury
GCS of 13 to 15: mild head injury

Nervous System