Identifies high risk sepsis patients outside ICU
Total Score
Low risk for poor clinical outcomes. Continue standard assessment.
Disclaimer: The clinical scoring and algorithms on this platform are intended strictly for professional informational purposes. They do not constitute a definitive medical diagnosis, treatment, or clinical decision. The final judgment and responsibility lie with the treating physician.
Yasal Uyarı: Bu platformdaki klinik skorlamalar ve algoritmalar yalnızca sağlık profesyonellerini bilgilendirme amaçlıdır. Herhangi bir kesin tıbbi teşhis, tedavi veya klinik karar yerine geçemez. Nihai karar ve sorumluluk hastayı yatak başında değerlendiren hekime aittir.
The qSOFA (Quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment) score is a bedside prompt introduced by the Sepsis-3 definitions. It is utilized to identify patients outside the intensive care unit with suspected infection who are at high risk for in-hospital mortality or prolonged ICU stay, requiring absolutely no laboratory tests to calculate.
qSOFA is highly specific but less sensitive than the older SIRS criteria. If a patient's qSOFA is negative (<2) but your clinical gestalt for sepsis remains high, do not delay ordering a lactate level and initiating empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Seymour CW, Liu VX, Iwashyna TJ, et al. Assessment of Clinical Criteria for Sepsis: For the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):762-774.
Disclaimer: The clinical scoring and algorithms on this platform are intended strictly for professional informational purposes. They do not constitute a definitive medical diagnosis, treatment, or clinical decision. The final judgment and responsibility lie with the treating physician.
Use qSOFA outside the ICU — in the ED, general ward, or pre-hospital setting — to rapidly identify adult patients with suspected infection who are at increased risk of death or prolonged ICU stay. A qSOFA score ≥ 2 should trigger: (1) calculation of the full SOFA score if lab values are available, (2) blood cultures before antibiotics, (3) serum lactate measurement, (4) immediate IV broad-spectrum antibiotics per Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines, and (5) evaluation for haemodynamic resuscitation. Do not use qSOFA as the sole criterion to withhold aggressive management — clinical gestalt matters.
qSOFA has excellent specificity for predicting sepsis mortality but lower sensitivity than the older SIRS criteria. In a busy triage setting, a patient with a qSOFA of 1 (e.g., only tachypnoea ≥ 22) but an impressive clinical appearance of severe systemic illness should NOT be reassured by the 'low risk' categorization. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign 2021 Hour-1 Bundle recommends actioning the sepsis pathway based on clinical suspicion of infection AND any one of: qSOFA ≥ 2, SIRS ≥ 2, or NEWS ≥ 5. Use whichever screening tool is most sensitive for your clinical context.
The altered mentation criterion uses GCS < 15 as its formal definition, but in practice any new confusion, agitation, or decreased responsiveness should count — do not require a formal GCS assessment when the bedside impression is clear. Additionally, qSOFA was not designed to replace or supersede the full SOFA score for sepsis diagnosis; it is a screening prompt. A qSOFA of 0 in a patient with severe physiologic derangement (e.g., lactate 6 mmol/L, WBC 30,000, fever 40°C) should never delay sepsis workup.