Continuous recording to identify that there are at least 684 interventions for disorders of consciousness

The care of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) is variable worldwide. The aim of this study was to create a comprehensive, mutually exclusive and collectively exhausted, list of medical and nursing care interventions provided to patients with DoCs including those not documented in the EMR to better understand the care given to coma patients. After obtaining consent from patients’ legally authorized representative, 12 hours of continuous video footage was collected inside the patient’s intensive care unit room. Five patients aged 25–69 with a Glascow Coma Scale (GCS) of six or less were enrolled for a total of 57 hours. There were 684 unique interventions (575 physical and 109 cognitive) observed during collective observation periods. The bedside nurse was involved in 500 (73.1%) unique interventions, and family members, providers, and other personnel provided the remaining 26.9% of interventions. There is need to standardize the treatment of patients with disorders of consciousness across patients and hospitals around the world.