What is the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) used to assess?

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is specifically designed to assess the level of consciousness in patients who have experienced varying degrees of brain injury. It evaluates a person's responsiveness through three components: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each of these components is scored, and the total score helps determine the patient's consciousness level, ranging from fully alert to comatose.

By focusing on the assessment of consciousness, the GCS provides critical information regarding the severity of a patient's brain injury and is valuable for monitoring changes over time. This makes it an essential tool in emergency medical settings to guide further treatment and intervention. Other options such as motor function, neurological deficits, or cerebral blood flow are components or factors that may be evaluated in a broader neurological assessment, but they do not capture the primary purpose of the GCS, which is to gauge the level of consciousness.