Reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale for the emergency department evaluation of poisoned patients.
The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was developed for monitoring the mental status of head-injured patients in the intensive care unit. The purpose of this study is to determine the inter-rater reliability of the GCS for poisoning patients in the emergency department.


METHODS
This was a prospective, observational study. Two observers used a standard assessment checklist to determine the GCS of suspected poisoning patients. Inter-rater reliability was assessed with a weighted Kappa score.


RESULTS
A total of 39 patients were enrolled. Weighted kappa for the total GCS demonstrated excellent agreement. Agreement was also good for each component of the score.


CONCLUSIONS
The GCS is a reliable tool for the evaluation of mental status of poisoning patients in the emergency department.
Heard
Kennon
K
The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Division of Emergency Medicine, Denver, CO 80262, USA. Kennon.Heard@uchsc.edu
Bebarta
Vikhyat S
VS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D011041:Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results