TO COMPARE THE GLASGOW COMA SCALE (GCS), GLASGOW LIEGE SCALE (GLS) AND FULL-OUTLINE OF UN-RESPONSIVENESS (FOUR) SCALE TO DETERMINE THE CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG PATIENTS IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNITS (ICUs)

Consciousness is a state of general focus of oneself and the environment, it includes the potential to orient towards a new stimuli. Consciousness is the most sensitive indicator of neurological change. Aim of the study: to compare the consciousness of patients in the Intensive Care Units(ICUs) of using the Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS), Glasgow Liege Scale(GLS) and the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness(FOUR) score. Materials and Methods: A descriptive- comparative research design was used. A total of 21 patients were conveniently selected for the assessment of level of consciousness. 3 doctors and 14 nurses were selected from the staff, total of 40 paired observations were done by different pairs of doctors and nurses. Results: The internal consistency of the three scales was calculated using Cronbach's α, the internal consistency of GCS was 0.76, 0.77 for GLS and 0.66 for FOUR score. Conclusion: The results could not be concluded with the availability of very limited number of patients. Majority of the raters agreed that GLS and FOUR score were reliable, reproducible, give more clinical information and can be used as an alternative to GCS. However, there is no significant difference in the opinion of the raters regarding the scales.