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The epidemiology of coma is unknown because case ascertainment with traditional methods is difficult. Here, we used crowdsourcing methodology to estimate the incidence and prevalence of coma in the UK and the USA. We recruited UK and US laypeople (aged ≥18 years) who were nationally representative (i.e. matched for age, gender and ethnicity according to census data) of the UK and the USA, respectively, utilizing a crowdsourcing platform. We provided a description of coma and asked survey participants if they—‘right now’ or ‘within the last year’—had a family member in coma. These participants (UK n = 994, USA n = 977) provided data on 30 387 family members (UK n = 14 124, USA n = 16 263). We found more coma cases in the USA (n = 47) than in the UK (n = 20; P = 0.009). We identified one coma case in the UK (0.007%, 95% confidence interval 0.00–0.04%) on the day of the survey and 19 new coma cases (0.13%, 95% confidence interval 0.08–0.21%) within the preceding year, resulting in an annual incidence of 135/100 000 (95% confidence interval 81–210) and a point prevalence of 7 cases per 100 000 population (95% confidence interval 0.18–39.44) in the UK. We identified five cases in the USA (0.031%, 95% confidence interval 0.01–0.07%) on the day of the survey and 42 new cases (0.26%, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.35%) within the preceding year, resulting in an annual incidence of 258/100 000 (95% confidence interval 186–349) and a point prevalence of 31 cases per 100 000 population (95% confidence interval 9.98–71.73) in the USA. The five most common causes were stroke, medically induced coma, COVID-19, traumatic brain injury and cardiac arrest. To summarize, for the first time, we report incidence and prevalence estimates for coma across diagnosis types and settings in the UK and the USA using crowdsourcing methods. Coma may be more prevalent in the USA than in the UK, which requires further investigation. These data are urgently needed to expand the public health perspective on coma and disorders of consciousness.

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Background Systems to meet the on-demand learning needs of nurses in intensive care units are not well studied beyond the traditional classroom models. Objective To study the feasibility and effect of implementing an online discussion forum for nurses in a busy neuroscience intensive care unit. Methods A baseline survey was done to highlight the areas of educational need in the unit. Freeform—a password-protected, online discussion forum supported by the university—was used for the pilot project. Freeform has functions similar to Facebook, with “likes,” “follow,” discussion/comment spaces, and the capacity for uploading images and files. A page called “All things NeuroCritical Care” was created. All nurses working in the intensive care unit were automatically enrolled. Clinical vignettes relevant to neurocritical care were posted once a month with 1 to 2 lead questions. All participation was voluntary, and topics were chosen on the basis of the needs survey. At the end of each case, a recent review article on the topic was posted for secure download. Results Eight sentinel diagnoses have been presented as clinical vignettes, and 34 of 76 members formally follow the page. The mean number of discussion strings per case is 8.3 posts. The number of unique visitors to the page during active case discussions exceeds 100. Conclusion A secure, online, problem-based learning discussion format is a feasible point-of-care learning opportunity that can help overcome some of the traditional barriers to ongoing nursing education needs in a busy intensive care unit.