Your patient has a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13, a systolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg, and a respiratory rate of 8 breaths/min. What is the Revised Trauma Score (RTS) likely to be?

• A. 8
• B. 11
• C. 9
• D. 10

Answer: (C)

The RTS in practice problems is obtained by coding each vital sign into a 0–4 category and then summing those codes. For this patient: GCS of 13–15 is coded as 4, SBP of 80 falls in 76–89 and is coded as 3, and a respiratory rate of 8 falls in the 6–9 range and is coded as 2. Adding these gives 4 + 3 + 2 = 9. So the RTS is 9. In some contexts, the RTS is calculated with a weighted formula that yields decimals, but this item uses the simple sum of category scores, which aligns with the value 9.