cedocs_score: CEDOCS Score for Emergency Department Overcrowding

In cliot: Clinical Indices and Outcomes Tools

CEDOCS Score for Emergency Department Overcrowding

Description

Calculates the Community Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale (CEDOCS) score. This tool estimates the severity of overcrowding in community emergency departments (EDs) using operational variables such as patient census, waiting times, and annual volume. It is derived from the NEDOCS tool but calibrated for community hospital settings.

Usage

cedocs_score(critical_care_patients, longest_admit_wait_hours,
             waiting_room_patients, total_ed_patients, ed_beds, annual_visits)

Arguments

critical_care_patients	Numeric. Number of critical care patients currently in the ED.
longest_admit_wait_hours	Numeric. The longest time (in hours) any currently admitted patient has been waiting in the ED for a hospital bed.
waiting_room_patients	Numeric. Number of patients currently in the ED waiting room.
total_ed_patients	Numeric. Total number of patients currently in the ED (including those in beds, hallways, and waiting room).
ed_beds	Numeric. Total licensed number of ED treatment beds.
annual_visits	Numeric. The total number of ED visits per year (annual census).

Value

A list containing:

CEDOCS_Score	The calculated score (Range 0-200).
Level_of_Crowding	Interpretation of the score: 0-20: Not Busy 21-60: Busy 61-100: Extremely Busy but Not Overcrowded 101-140: Overcrowded 141-180: Severely Overcrowded 181-200: Dangerously Overcrowded

References

Weiss SJ, Derlet R, Arndahl J, et al. Estimating the degree of emergency department overcrowding in academic medical centers: results of the National ED Overcrowding Study (NEDOCS). Acad Emerg Med. 2004;11(1):38-50. Weiss SJ, Ernst AA, Nick TG. Identifying and comparing the crowds in emergency departments.

Examples

# Example 1: Busy ED
# 2 critical, 4 hour wait, 10 in waiting room, 25 total patients, 20 beds, 35k visits
cedocs_score(2, 4, 10, 25, 20, 35000)

# Example 2: Overcrowded ED
# 5 critical, 8 hour wait, 25 in waiting room, 50 total patients, 30 beds, 50k visits
cedocs_score(5, 8, 25, 50, 30, 50000)

cliot documentation built on Dec. 1, 2025, 1:06 a.m.