About Kaiser Sepsis Calculator.
A free, evidence-based sepsis screening tool built on Kaiser Permanente's Sepsis Early Warning System and Sepsis-3 consensus criteria.
Why This Calculator Exists
Sepsis kills roughly 270,000 Americans each year and accounts for 1 in every 3 hospital deaths. It's also one of the most time-sensitive conditions in medicine: every hour of delayed antibiotic treatment in septic shock is associated with measurable increases in mortality. Yet early recognition remains a challenge, particularly in settings where lab results lag behind clinical presentation.
We built this calculator to make Kaiser Permanente's Sepsis Early Warning System (SEWS) accessible at the bedside without requiring access to proprietary software. By combining SIRS criteria scoring with Sepsis-3 organ dysfunction markers, the tool gives clinicians a structured way to quantify risk from the information that's already in front of them: temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, mental status, and clinical suspicion for infection.
This isn't a diagnostic tool. It's a screening aid, one that structures clinical thinking and helps teams communicate risk clearly. It works best when used by someone who already understands the patient's context.
Every scoring threshold comes directly from Kaiser Permanente SEWS criteria (Dellinger et al., The Permanente Journal, 2020) and Sepsis-3 consensus guidelines (Singer et al., JAMA, 2016). We cross-reference against the Surviving Sepsis Campaign international guidelines for action recommendations.
All content on this site is reviewed against primary clinical literature before publication. We do not publish claims we cannot verify against peer-reviewed sources. Methodology pages cite specific studies and organizations by name so you can check our work.
We state clearly what this tool can and cannot do. It is not a diagnostic instrument and cannot replace physician assessment. Scores are intended as structured decision support, particularly useful for triage, rapid-response assessments, and clinical education.
The Standards Behind the Score
The calculator draws on three bodies of evidence. First, the Kaiser Permanente Sepsis Early Warning System, developed and validated within Kaiser Permanente's integrated health system, which demonstrated that structured early warning criteria reduced sepsis mortality in real clinical workflows. Second, the 2016 Sepsis-3 Task Force consensus definitions, which redefined sepsis as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Third, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines, which provide the evidence base for Hour-1 Bundle interventions including antibiotic timing, fluid resuscitation, and vasopressor thresholds.
We update this content when significant new evidence changes clinical practice. The calculator and its supporting articles are reviewed at least annually against current guidelines. If you notice an error or outdated information, please reach out. We take accuracy seriously.