A Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less generally indicates a severe head injury and requires what action?

• A. Observation only
• B. Surgical intervention on scene
• C. Immediate airway protection and rapid evacuation
• D. Return to duty

Answer: (C)

A Glasgow Coma Scale score of eight or less signals a severe head injury with impaired consciousness and a high risk of airway obstruction. The urgent action is to secure the airway and get the patient to definitive care quickly. Protecting the airway and ensuring adequate oxygenation prevents hypoxia and limits secondary brain injury, which improves outcomes. In practice, this means treating airway as a priority, providing supplemental oxygen, suctioning as needed, and initiating rapid transport to a trauma center. Observing alone ignores the danger of deterioration, on-scene surgical intervention isn’t the standard approach here, and returning to duty would be unsafe.