In Glasgow Coma Scale documentation, a Verbal score written as '1T' indicates what?

In Glasgow Coma Scale documentation, a Verbal score written as '1T' indicates what?

• A. The patient cannot speak due to an airway device
• B. The patient is intubated
• C. The Verbal score is not applicable
• D. The patient has no verbal response

Answer: (A)

In the Verbal component of the Glasgow Coma Scale, a score of 1 means there is no verbal response. When a patient is intubated, you cannot obtain a verbal response, so you document this by adding a T to the score, resulting in 1T. The T signals that the inability to speak is due to a airway device (the tube) rather than a neurologic lack of verbal ability. So, 1T communicates that the patient cannot speak because of the airway device, which is why that option best captures the meaning. The other ideas aren’t as precise for this notation, since the key point is the annotation that the verbal score is not testable due to intubation.

In the Verbal component of the Glasgow Coma Scale, a score of 1 means there is no verbal response. When a patient is intubated, you cannot obtain a verbal response, so you document this by adding a T to the score, resulting in 1T. The T signals that the inability to speak is due to a airway device (the tube) rather than a neurologic lack of verbal ability. So, 1T communicates that the patient cannot speak because of the airway device, which is why that option best captures the meaning. The other ideas aren’t as precise for this notation, since the key point is the annotation that the verbal score is not testable due to intubation.