What is the GCS of this patient?

[Scaramedic]

I'm not too sure what you're trying to say here... this was not any type of test question. There was no info missing for the question I was answering.

I guess the questions you want answered is does a corpse having their eyes open grant them a point on the GCS. The answer is no, they are not unresponsive they are dead. The GCS is test for the living, once they are in arrest you do not use a GCS. Consider the GCS as a test for how severely injured a living soul is, not what state a dead person is in. Hell I've had people in rigor with their eyes still open, it doesn't grant them a 4 on the GCS.

[JPINFV]

LMAO! That's funny right there!

I'd be willing to bet that a LOT of EMTs would call it a 6 too though. That's what I mean when I talk about them being trained on skills, but not understanding the underlying medicine. Memorising mnemonics and stuff, but not having a clue what the results mean.

It's similar to the providers who don't qualify a non-verbal trach patient's verbal score for GCS. I learnt (not in school, unfortunately) how on one of my first RT calls (1 with a circled T. clarify in narritive) because it seemed, well, so misleading.

[BEorP]

I guess the questions you want answered is does a corpse having their eyes open grant them a point on the GCS. The answer is no, they are not unresponsive they are dead. The GCS is test for the living, once they are in arrest you do not use a GCS. Consider the GCS as a test for how severely injured a living soul is, not what state a dead person is in. Hell I've had people in rigor with their eyes still open, it doesn't grant them a 4 on the GCS.

I would respectfully disagree with you on two points. All people in cardiac arrest will be also be unresponsive. Saying that someone is "unresponsive" does not mean that they are alive. Also, even though the patient is in cardiac arrest, paramedics (at least in Ontario) often document the GCS of 3.

[ERDoc]

Does anyone else have a problem with a scale that gives a 2 week old corpse 3 points? I know it is totally irrelevant, but it is just a pet peeve.

[spenac]

Does anyone else have a problem with a scale that gives a 2 week old corpse 3 points? I know it is totally irrelevant, but it is just a pet peeve.

I just checked the table and it has a GCS of 3, maybe more don't know if you score the roaches on it as part of the table. :shock:

[JPINFV]

Does anyone else have a problem with a scale that gives a 2 week old corpse 3 points? I know it is totally irrelevant, but it is just a pet peeve.

Personally, I don't. Sure, it can be adjusted by taking a point off of each criteria to make it out of 12, but I see that just as cosmetic.

[Scaramedic]

Let's look at it this way. Here is a dog with a stick.

Dog

opens eyes spontaneously = 4

orientated = 5 (Knows their name)

follows commands = 6 (got the stick)

Dog = 15

Stick

No eye opening = 1

No verbal response = 1

No motor response = 1

Stick = 3

Now here is a dead guy.

He's the one in the middle!

GCS

No eye opening = 1

No verbal response = 1

No motor response = 1

Dead Guy = 3

The Glasgow Coma Scale was designed to check the neurological status of a head injury not to verify the status of a corpse. Any other use is not the idea of the original group of Doc's who came up with it.

I have never charted that an arrrest patient is unresponsive, I chart pulseless and apneac. I assume the reader of my chart has the intelligence to understand the patient is not going to be responsive. If they are then we are dealing with the T-virus, which would be bad, very bad.

[JPINFV]

Now here is a dead guy.

He's the one in the middle!

GCS

No eye opening = 1

No verbal response = 1

No motor response = 1

Dead Guy = 3

But if you turn on the unit's AM/FM radio...

[Just Plain Ruff]

ok, if a crew member came to the er spouting a gcs of 6 on a cardiac arrest I'd ask what kind of freaking moron are you?

Anyone who puts a gcs of 6 on a cardiac arrest that has their eyes open is just STUPID. Plain and simple.

[louise911]

gcs 3