Consciousness assessment
===
* GCS and clues from behavior.
**content** and **level** of consciousness (Plum and Posner 1982)
* level: wakefulness
* awake, aroused, alert, vigilant
* clear, drowsy/lethargy, stupor, coma
* GCS: Teasdale and Jennett 1974[^Teasdale1974]
* content: awareness and attention
* (perception)
* AAA": **alertness**, **attention**, **awareness** (Blumenfeld 2002)
* Figure: clinical spectrum of conscious level and content[^Laureys2005]
![](https://i.imgur.com/phpqdaZ.png)
[^Teasdale1974]: Teasdale G et al. **Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness. A practical scale.** [Lancet. 1974;2:81](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4136544)
[^Laureys2005]: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2009), vol. 2, pp. 1133-1142; Laureys S. **The neural correlate of (un)awareness: Lessons from the vegetative state** [Trends Cogn Sci. 2005;9:556](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16271507).