The Glascow Coma Scale is usually administered upon admission to determine depth of coma and periodically thereafter to help determine duration of coma more accurately. Measurements of cerebral blood flow may also be helpful in evaluating coma. In addition, many evaluations will be conducted by individual members of the treatment team. These include range of motion, respiratory, nutrition, to name a few. Medical Management Medical management may involve sensory stimulation programs, positioning programs, medications, surgery, nutrition, hygiene and various other interventions.
Professional staff can include physicians, neurologists, surgeons, nurses and many others.
Seizures, hypertension, hydrocephalus, aspiration pneumonia, urinary tract infections, hormonal abnormalities and skin ulcers are some of the potential problems that a person in a coma may experience. The medical staff will be prepared to treat these and any other unexpected difficulties. Medication Medication might be used to treat seizure disorders, infections, muscle spasticity, hypertension, and swelling, to name only a few of the possible reasons. In some cases, medication might be prescribed that has the potential to increase the coma duration, but decrease the swelling in the brain, therefore decreasing the overall extent of damage to the brain tissue. It has been suggested that people in coma should not receive a lot of medications that have sedative side effects.