Score emergency department overcrowding with the NEDOCS formula from patients, beds, admissions and waiting times.
Result
How to use this tool
Use the current census at one moment.
These are boarders waiting for inpatient beds.
Ventilators add 13.4 points each and waits add per hour.
Bands run from not busy to dangerously overcrowded.
Formula & worked example
40 patients, 30 beds, 8 admitted waiting, 1 ventilated, longest wait 4 hours and last wait 2 hours gives -20 + 114.4 + 160 + 13.4 + 3.72 + 11.28 = 282.8, dangerously overcrowded.
Limitations — read this before you rely on it
Department-level crowding measure at a single moment. It does not triage individual patients or set staffing decisions alone. This tool is for education only and is not medical advice. Talk to a clinician about any result that worries you, and never change treatment because of a calculator result.
Frequently asked questions
The National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale, a validated score of how crowded an emergency department is.
100 or more, with 140 to 180 severely overcrowded and over 180 dangerously overcrowded.
No. It measures department crowding, not any individual patient severity.
At regular intervals through a shift, since crowding changes quickly.
It correlates with crowding and delays, but it is not a waiting-time forecast for one patient.