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Free qSOFA Score Calculator (2026)
The qSOFA (quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) score is a rapid, three-variable bedside prompt used to flag adult patients with suspected infection who are at higher risk of a poor outcome — in-hospital death or an ICU stay of three or more days — when they are being assessed outside the intensive care unit, such as in the emergency department, a general ward, or a primary care setting. It replaces a lengthy work-up with three findings any clinician can check in under a minute: respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, and mental status. A score of 2 or 3 is considered positive and should prompt further work-up — a full SOFA assessment, lactate measurement, blood cultures, and consideration of escalation of care — rather than functioning as a stand-alone diagnosis of sepsis. Enter the three findings below to calculate a patient’s qSOFA score instantly.
Clinical decision-support aid, not a substitute for clinical judgment. These tools implement published scoring criteria for education and workflow support. They are not a medical device and have not been reviewed by the FDA or any regulatory body. Every result should be interpreted by a qualified clinician in the context of the full clinical picture, not used as a standalone diagnostic or treatment decision.
Bedside mortality-risk prompt
qSOFA
Bedside prompt for higher risk of a poor outcome in patients with suspected infection, assessed outside the ICU. Check the criteria that apply, then calculate.
Seymour CW, et al. JAMA. 2016;315(8):762–774 · Singer M, et al. JAMA. 2016;315(8):801–810 (Sepsis-3) · Evans L, et al. Crit Care Med. 2021;49(11):e1063–e1143 · Prescott HC, et al. Crit Care Med. 2026 (Surviving Sepsis Campaign 2026: NEWS, NEWS2, MEWS or SIRS are recommended over qSOFA as a single tool to screen for sepsis; qSOFA is used here as a mortality-risk prompt).
A fully worked example
Consider a 74-year-old man brought to the emergency department with suspected pneumonia. His respiratory rate is 26 breaths per minute — above the threshold of 22/min, so this criterion is met (+1). His systolic blood pressure is 92 mmHg, at or below the 100 mmHg threshold, so this criterion is met as well (+1). He is confused, with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 13 (below the normal 15), so altered mentation is present too (+1). Adding these together gives a qSOFA score of 3 out of 3 — positive, since any score of 2 or higher counts as positive. In this patient, a positive qSOFA score indicates a higher risk of a poor outcome and should prompt a full SOFA assessment, lactate measurement, blood cultures, and consideration of escalating the level of care, in line with Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidance. Try the same three findings in the calculator above to see the readout it produces.
Methods, assumptions, and when not to use qSOFA
For a manuscript methods section, qSOFA can be cited in a single sentence: “Sepsis risk was assessed using the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score (Seymour et al., JAMA 2016).” That single citation is sufficient because qSOFA is a fixed, published rule rather than a fitted or locally-derived model — the three criteria and the positive threshold of 2 do not change between studies or sites.
qSOFA is a mortality-risk prompt, not a sepsis diagnostic test, and it is not a substitute for full SOFA scoring in ICU patients — it was derived and validated for use outside the ICU, where full physiologic and laboratory monitoring is not already continuous. A negative qSOFA score (0 or 1) does not rule out sepsis or infection; if clinical suspicion remains, reassess the patient and consider further work-up regardless of the score. It should never be used to delay empiric antibiotics or fluid resuscitation in a patient who otherwise looks septic.
What does a qSOFA score of 2 or 3 mean?
A qSOFA score of 2 or 3 is classified as positive. It signals that a patient with suspected infection has a substantially higher risk of a poor outcome — in-hospital mortality or an ICU stay of three days or longer — than a patient scoring 0 or 1. A positive score is a prompt to investigate further, not a diagnosis in itself: it should trigger a full SOFA assessment, a serum lactate, blood cultures, and a review of whether the current level of care is adequate.
Can a negative qSOFA score rule out sepsis?
No. qSOFA was designed to be simple and fast, which means it trades away some sensitivity for speed. A patient can have a qSOFA of 0 or 1 and still have sepsis, particularly early in the disease course, in patients who are chronically hypotensive, or in those on rate-controlling medications that mask a compensatory tachycardia or tachypnea. Clinical judgment still governs: if infection is suspected and the patient looks unwell, a negative qSOFA should not delay further evaluation or treatment.
Why was qSOFA designed for use outside the ICU?
The Sepsis-3 task force found that, inside the ICU, the full SOFA score already outperformed simpler bedside tools, since ICU patients are already monitored intensively and full physiologic and laboratory data are typically already available. qSOFA was validated instead as a quick risk prompt for the much larger population of patients with suspected infection who present outside the ICU — in the emergency department, on general wards, or in outpatient settings — where a rapid three-variable prompt has more practical value than a full SOFA calculation that depends on labs that may not be back yet.
Primary references
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.
Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW, et al. The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):801–810.
Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W, et al. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2021. Crit Care Med. 2021;49(11):e1063–e1143.
Prescott HC, Antonelli M, Alhazzani W, et al. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2026. Crit Care Med. 2026. doi:10.1097/CCM.0000000000007075.
Studying sepsis or critical-care outcomes across a registry?
Bedside risk scores like qSOFA are only as useful as the outcomes data behind them. If your next project involves cohort-level sepsis or critical-care outcomes work, Editverse’s NTDB/TQP Trauma Registry Study service handles registry access, cohort definition, risk-adjusted modelling, and a publication-ready manuscript. See the registry study service