Effect of stimulation program on consciousness of traumatic brain injury patients: A camparison of FOUR and GCS scale

Traumatic brain injury makes singnificant change in the level of consciousness (LOC). Such patients, due to different reason, are at risk of sensory deprivation. It is difficult to assess the LOC of patients in ICU. The first scale to do such a thing is GCS which is of low validity because of verbal component. The FOUR has more information than GCS and seems to be better in intubated patients. The aim of the study was to determine effect of sensory stimulation program on LOC, with the a camparison of FOUR and GCS scales.
Material and This study is a clinical trial on 60 patients who had brain injury in ICU. The intervention aregular sensory stimulation by the reasarcher which is done on 6 day and 5 times a day and LOC were measured before and after intervention using both FOUR and GCS. The data analyses was done by SPSS 16.0 and using parametric and nonparametric tests and descriptive statistics method.
Results showed that the mean of FOUR was significantly different before and after intervention but this finding was not observed with the GCS scales showed a rise during 6 days of intervention and this increase was significantly higher compared to the control group.
Sensory stimulation program in patients with traumatic brain injury has positive effects. Also the FOUR provided clearer information of LOC changes for patients and was more reliable.