Question

You are dispatched for a 65-year-old woman who had a ground level fall. She is lying on the kitchen floor and tracks you as you walk into the house. When you ask the patient what happened today, she responds with clear, but confused speech. The chief complaint is right foot pain. As you lean down and palpate her foot, she attempts to pull her leg away from you. With all of this information in mind, what is the patient's Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score?

Answer 1

The patient's Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score is likely either 8 or 9, based on the information provided.

Step-by-step explanation:

The patient's Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score can be determined based on the information provided. The Glasgow Coma Scale is a measurement used to assess the level of consciousness and neurological function in a patient. It consists of three components: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each component is assigned a score ranging from 1 to 4 or 5, depending on the specific response exhibited by the patient. The scores from each component are then added together to give the overall GCS score.

Based on the information provided, the patient is able to track the responder and respond with clear, but confused speech. This indicates that her eye opening score would be 4. Additionally, her motor response score can be determined from her attempt to pull her leg away when her foot is palpated. This would likely be scored as 4 as well. However, the information does not mention her verbal response, so it is not possible to determine the score for that component. Therefore, the patient's GCS score is likely either 8 (4 + 4) or 9 (4 + 5), depending on her verbal response.