Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (pGCS)
Assesses impaired consciousness and coma in pediatric patients. Select Eye, Verbal, and Motor responses to calculate total and interpretation.
Inputs
Tip: Document as E# V# M#. Use the best response observed during assessment. If verbal is not testable (e.g., intubated), total score is not comparable.
Reminder: Sedation, paralysis, intoxication, severe facial injury, and intubation can make elements not testable; interpret in clinical context.
The Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (pGCS/PGCS) is an age-adapted version of the Glasgow Coma Scale used to assess impaired consciousness and coma in children, especially in emergency care and head injury. Like the adult GCS, it scores Eye opening (E), Verbal response (V), and Motor response (M), then sums them to a total from 3 to 15 (higher = better neurologic responsiveness). Royal Children’s Hospital+1
Why it’s “pediatric”
Young children can’t reliably produce “oriented/confused conversation,” so the Verbal component is modified for infants/non-verbal children (e.g., coos/babbles, irritable cry, cries to pain, moans to pain, none). Eye and Motor components are essentially the same structure as the standard GCS. MSD Manuals+1
How clinicians interpret the total score
In head injury contexts, common severity bands are:
- 13–15: mild
- 9–12: moderate
- 3–8: severe (often ≤8 is considered “coma” and may trigger airway/critical care escalation depending on context) Cleveland Clinic+1
PGCS is most useful when trended over time and documented as E + V + M (e.g., E3 V4 M6), because the pattern can matter as much as the total—especially when parts are not testable (e.g., intubation). Royal Children’s Hospital+1
