Title: Simplified GCS vs. Full GCS? Which One To Use?<br/>Author: WanTsu Wendy Chang<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/1322/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><div>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Simplified GCS vs. Full GCS? Which One To Use?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:14px;">The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is an instrument widely used to assess level of consciousness by EMS.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;">The motor GCS (mGCS) and Simplified Motor Scale (SMS) have been proposed to simplify EMS triage.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;">A number of retrospective studies have compared these scales.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;">Chou <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 18 studies with a total number of 1.7 million patients to compare the predictive utility of these scales for identification of patients with severe traumatic injury.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;">The total GCS was slightly better than the mGCS or SMS on predicting mortality, neurosurgical intervention, severe traumatic brain injury, and emergent intubation.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Bottom Line</span>: The motor GCS and Simplified Motor Scale (SMS) have similar discrimination when compared with the total GCS, and may be easier to use.</span></p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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Chou R, Totten AM, Carney N, <em>et al</em>. Predictive Utility of the Total Glasgow Coma Scale Versus the Motor Component of the Glasgow Coma Scale for Identification of Patients with Serious Traumatic Injuries. <span style="font-style: italic;">Ann Emerg Med</span>. 2017 Jan 11. [Epub ahead of print].</p>
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<em><strong>Follow me on Twitter @EM_NCC</strong></em></p>
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