CURB-65 Calculator: Pneumonia Severity and Disposition
Five bedside items that answer the only question that matters at the door: does this pneumonia go home, to the floor, or toward the ICU?
What the score does and does not tell you
The bands: 0 to 1 is low mortality and usually outpatient treatment; 2 is the gray zone that usually earns a short admission or observation; 3 or more is severe pneumonia with real mortality, and 4 to 5 should trigger an ICU conversation. The uremia criterion is BUN over 19 mg/dL, not creatinine, which is the detail everyone misremembers.
The score's blind spot is oxygen: a patient can score 1 and still be hypoxemic, and hypoxemia does not go home. Check the saturation, and when the picture is murky, an ABG and an A-a gradient clarify how much lung is actually involved. Antibiotic choice by severity and setting is in the antibiotic coverage chart, and duration, which is shorter than most people write, is in antibiotic duration and de-escalation.
This is not medical advice. Educational tool. Severity scores inform the disposition decision; hypoxemia, frailty, reliability of follow-up and clinical judgment finish it. Institutional protocol governs.