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Definitions
Conscious - Appearance of wakefulness, awareness of the
self and environment
Unconscious - Sleep like appearance and behaviorally
unresponsive to all external stimuli
Levels of conciousness - Refers to the level or degree of
alertness. Although not true levels or steps, the following terms
describe a progressives worsening in the degree of a patient's alertness
Only the terms for the two extremes of
levels of conciousness, alert and coma can be used to
unequivocally describe a patient's level of consciousness. Terms like
lethargy, obtundation, and stupor are too broad to enable you to
adequately describe a patient's condition so that another observer knows
exactly what you have seen. A subtle worsening in level of conciousness
may signal an unstable patient that is ready to "crash" and require
emergency intervention
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