Paramedic National Registry Practice

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) assesses a patient's level of consciousness based on three criteria: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each category has a specific scoring system that helps in determining the overall GCS score.

In this scenario, the patient has no eye opening, which corresponds to a score of 1 for the eye-opening component. For verbal response, the patient is making incomprehensible sounds, which scores a 2. When considering motor response, movement to push away would be categorized as a withdrawal response, scoring 4.

To calculate the total GCS score, you add the scores from each category:

- Eye opening: 1

- Verbal response: 2

- Motor response: 4

Adding those together gives a total GCS score of 7. However, based upon the provided answer of 8, it’s important to identify whether the movement to push away indeed reflects a withdrawal response or maybe a different level of awareness or intention that could elevate the score slighty. If pushing away suggests a purposeful response to painful stimuli, that would actually score 5.

This leads us to the conclusion that a GCS score of 8 reflects the combined assessments accurately, aligning with the trends in