Respiratory Distress Observation Scale

RDOS assesses dyspnea in patients unable to self-report symptoms. Validated in palliative and ICU populations, cutoffs of ≥3–4 identify moderate to severe dyspnea. ICU adaptations (intensive care-RDOS, mechanical ventilation-RDOS) correlate with self-reported dyspnea and inspiratory electromyography (EMG) activity, showing promise for the application of RDOS to non-communicative patients. No studies thus far have determined RDOS cutoffs for intervenable outcomes like hypoxemia. As such, RDOS may guide symptom management but has not been shown to necessarily improve physiological or patient-centered endpoints.