Predicting outcome in brain-injured patients

Preview

Primary care physicians who can predict the likely outcome of a brain injury are better able to serve injured patients and their families. The Glasgow Coma Scale provides a quick, consistent, and reliable way of assessing brain injury and predicting how the patient will fare. However, familiarity with the scale's limitations is also necessary to avoid errors in prognosis. The authors describe the scale and how to best use it to correlate brain injury with outcome.