JBL EMT Practice Exam

Your patient opens his eyes, moans, and pulls away from you when you pinch his trapezius muscle. You should assign a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of:

1. 6

2. 7

3. 8

4. 9

The correct answer is: 6

In this scenario, the patient displays a response to pain stimuli by opening their eyes, moaning, and pulling away. In the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), this type of response to pain corresponds to a score of 2. Given that the patient also shows signs of verbal response (moaning), but not oriented or conversing fully, the Verbal Response score would be 2. As a result, the patient's eye response, verbal response, and motor response would sum up to a GCS score of 6 (Eye Response: 2, Verbal Response: 2, Motor Response: 2). Therefore, the correct answer is A. In the other options: B. A GCS score of 7 is higher than what the patient would receive based on the presented scenario. C. A GCS score of 8 is higher than the GCS score calculated from the patient's response to pain. D. A GCS score of 9 is higher than what would be assigned to a patient who responds to pain but does not fully engage in conversing or being fully oriented.