What is assessed in the Glasgow Coma Scale?

• A. Eye opening
• B. Verbal response
• C. Motor response
• D. All of the above

Answer: (D)

The Glasgow Coma Scale measures a patient’s level of consciousness by three domains: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each domain has its own scoring, and the scores are added to give a total that ranges from 3 (deep coma or dead) to 15 (fully awake). Eye opening looks at whether the person opens eyes spontaneously, to speech, to pain, or not at all. Verbal response assesses orientation and coherence, from fully oriented and speaking normally to incomprehensible sounds or no verbal response. Motor response evaluates whether the person obeys commands, localizes or withdraws from pain, or shows abnormal posturing. Because the assessment spans all three areas, the correct choice is all of the above. Subscores for each domain are often recorded separately to track changes over time.