The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) has been accepted nationally and internationally as a tool to assess depth and duration of consciousness since it was published in 1974. Although it was intended to be an easy and practical bedside tool for any grade of health professional, it is considered to be ambiguous and confusing for infrequent users. Moreover, there has been increasing concern about the accuracy and effectiveness of the GCS observation carried out by these users, which could result from lack of training and dissemination of benchmarking across non-specialist areas. This article aims to introduce a GCS flow chart to guide users step-by-step when assessing a patient's level of consciousness.

Kumiko Okamura - Senior Staff Nurse, Oxford Centre for Enablement, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust