Question

A 21 year old male is extremely intoxicated. When you attempt to insert a nasal airway he slaps your hand away, curses at you, and then sits up. When you remove the airway, he lies back down on the stretcher. What is his GCS?

Answer 1

The 21-year-old male's Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score would be 11 out of a possible 15, taking into account his responses in Eye Opening, Verbal, and Motor categories.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is used to assess the level of consciousness in a person who has suffered a head injury or is otherwise impaired. The GCS is based on three aspects of responsiveness: Eye Opening (E), Verbal Response (V), and Motor Response (M).

In this scenario, the 21-year-old male opens his eyes in response to the attempted insertion of the nasal airway, which would typically score a 3 on the Eye Opening scale as it's in response to speech (verbally commanded). He is using inappropriate words - which is a 3 on the Verbal Response scale. The patient also exhibits purposeful movement by slapping your hand away; therefore, he would score a 5 on the Motor Response scale. Adding these together (E3 + V3 + M5), his total GCS score would be 11 out of a possible 15.