Glasgow coma scale Home A-Z Health Information Health Library A-Z Glasgow Coma Scale Overview The Glasgow Coma Scale is a neurological assessment tool to measure the severity of brain injury based on a patient's response to stimuli, including eye opening, motor response, and verbal response. It assigns a score ranging from 3 to 15, with higher scores indicating better neurological function. Eye opening response Spontaneous: 4 pointsTo verbal stimuli, command, speech: 3 pointsTo pain only: 2 pointsNo response: 1 point Verbal response Oriented: 5 pointsConfused conversation, but able to answer questions: 4 pointsInappropriate words: 3 pointsIncomprehensible speech: 2 pointsNo response: 1 point Motor response Obeys commands: 6 pointsPurposeful movement to painful stimulus: 5 pointsWithdraws in response to pain: 4 pointsFlexion in response to pain (decorticate posturing): 3 pointsExtension response in response to pain (decerebrate posturing): 2 pointsNo response: 1 point Indications Evaluate brain functionCommunicate a patient’s conditionGroup patients into severity categories