Abstract
Objective: To investigate the efficacy of the Glasgow coma scale in the neurological evaluation of patients with traumatic brain injury. Method: This is an integrative literature review. Results: The 14 studies included in this review were identified from A1 to A14. Most articles were in the English language with publications in the year 2015, there was prevalence of cohort study. The main line of research investigated in this theme was the use of the Glasgow coma scale in the evaluation of patients with head trauma. It has been identified that the Glasgow Coma Scale continues to be the most applied scale in the category of neurological alterations, it is emphasized the importance of the correct use of the scale, as well as the use of other more effective methods to evaluate patients with traumatic brain injury. Conclusion: We identified with this study that the Glasgow Coma Scale is a clinical instrument with great value for the evaluation of patients with TBI, but presents flaws and limitations such as the impossibility of evaluating verbal scores in an intubated or aphasic patient, and Excludes the assessment of brain stem reflexes, which is not very effective when compared to other scales.