On the morning of October 24, the kickoff meeting for the multi-center study on the reliability and validity analysis of the China Nanjing Consciousness Recovery Scale (CNCRS)—a 2024 science and technology development project of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine—was held in Jiangning, Nanjing, under the leadership of Nanjing Zijin Hospital.

Nearly 30 experts and scholars from the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, the Affiliated Rehabilitation Hospital of Nanchang University, Xiangya Bo’ai Rehabilitation Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, and Nanjing Zijin Hospital gathered together.

The conference was chaired by Bi Sheng, Chairman of the Rehabilitation Medicine Professional Committee of the China Association of Private Medical Institutions. Following introductions of the attending guests, Long Ying, Chairman of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and Ge Jiangping, President of Nanjing Zijin Hospital, each delivered remarks.

Long Ying has long followed and supported the development of the Nanjing Consciousness Recovery Scale in China, and at this conference he expressed his earnest hopes that the deep integration of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and rehabilitation will bring greater benefits to patients and make even greater contributions to the field of rehabilitation.

As the host and lead organizer of the conference, Ge Jiangping extended a warm welcome and heartfelt gratitude to all the attendees. She stated that the convening of this multi-center study kickoff meeting marks a new beginning and a new milestone for the scale, and that she will work wholeheartedly with all colleagues at the hospital to provide comprehensive support—covering personnel, resources, and funding—to ensure the scale’s refinement and validation, thereby laying a solid foundation for further research and wider dissemination of this domestically developed assessment tool for disorders of consciousness in China.

Subsequently, Gao Zhiqiang, Executive Vice President of Nanjing Zijin Hospital, presented the protocol for a multi-center study on the reliability and validity analysis of the China–Nanjing Consciousness Recovery Scale (CNCRS). Starting with an overview of current scale‑use practices in China, he traced the development of the CNCRS and provided an in-depth explanation of its key innovations, a comparative analysis with two widely used international scales, the planned research agenda, and the critical issues it aims to address. This briefing enabled the attending experts to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the China–Nanjing Consciousness Recovery Scale.

Following Dean Gao’s presentation of the proposal, the attending experts engaged in a question-and-answer session, offering their perspectives and providing valuable feedback on refining the proposal’s details and advancing its implementation. Topics included eligibility criteria for participant enrollment, the theoretical rationale and practical implications of substituting sub‑projects, and the refinement of scoring metrics, among others.

Li Jian’an, an International Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and President of the Asian and Oceania Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, delivered the closing remarks. He noted that the key components of the scale still require consensus among experts, and that in the next phase—whether in terms of research quality control, scientific data monitoring, or the timing of its clinical application—further refinement will be necessary. “A scale is like a ruler,” he said. “It can measure both the severity of a patient’s condition and the extent of their recovery following treatment.” Therefore, enhancing the precision and scientific rigor of this tool is precisely what the Nanjing Scale for Consciousness Recovery in China must address—and it is also the ultimate goal of this conference. He expressed hope that the launch meeting of this multi-center study on the scale’s reliability and validity would lay a solid foundation for further research and broader implementation of a domestically developed assessment tool for disorders of consciousness.