Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice of using GCS in a Tertiary Level Hospital

Abstract

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a neurological assessment instrument which measures depth and duration of altered level of consciousness. It is an essential part of neurological asessment, therefore, vital for the nurses to have adequate knowledge and skills about GCS. With this objective the current study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practice of using Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) among the nursing personnel. A descriptive study was carried out on 60 nursing personnel working in selected areas of a tertiary care hospital. Non-probability (purposive) sampling technique was used. The data were collected by semi structured questionnaire. Majority of nursing personnel were females (86.7%) with the mean age 31.50+8.18 years and 56.7% were diploma holder. Nearly 70% had no formal training in using GCS. The mean score obtained in knowledge regarding GCS was 8.35+1.61 and range was 3–11. Majority of the nursing personnel assessed GCS every hourly as prescribed and discussed the content in E, V, M response during hand over to the nurses of next shift. The main sites to give pain stimulus to elicit eye opening and motor response in the patients were supraorbital ridge pressure (SORP), sternal rub or pinching of the chest. Although nursing personnel had theoretical knowledge about GCS as per the practices observed but there are several areas for improvement among them.

Keywords: Knowledge, Glasgow Coma Scale, Nursing Personnel