A patient does not respond to verbal stimuli, so the nurse applies painful stimulus and notes the patient's reaction. the patient clenches his teeth, and his arms are extended, adducted and hyper-pronated. The nurse recognizes this as a specific neurologic symptom of a Person that Appears Awake but Is Unresponsive.
The patient's lack of interaction is due to a medical cause or a psychiatric illness.
It is important to distinguish among the many possible causes of unresponsiveness.