Duke Activity Status Index (DASI)

When it activates

Scribeable activates a calculator from the encounter. The Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) can activate when the transcript or pasted chart context documents any of these:

• Preoperative cardiac risk assessment
• Functional capacity estimation
• Exercise tolerance assessment
• Perioperative risk stratification
• Cardiac clearance for surgery

Note-type scope: it activates on notes whose subject resolves to perioperative, cardiology, hospital medicine. A note that resolves to another subject does not carry it even when the clinician's specialty matches; a note with no resolvable subject (a generic consultation) falls back to the specialty match.

Inputs the note needs

12 inputs. Each is resolved from the transcript, the pasted chart context and charted labs; at this calculator’s tier a missing input is never requested, and a missing required input keeps the score out of the draft.

Scoring

Sum weights for "yes" items: self-care=2.75, walk indoors=1.75, walk blocks=2.75, climb stairs=5.50, run=8.00, light housework=2.70, moderate housework=3.50, heavy housework=8.00, yard work=4.50, sexual relations=5.25, moderate recreation=6.00, strenuous sports=7.50. Max 58.2. VO2max = 0.43 x DASI + 9.6.

Interpretation

DASI >34.75: Good functional capacity (≥4 METs equivalent), proceed without further cardiac testing. DASI ≤34.75: Poor functional capacity (<4 METs), consider pharmacologic stress testing if elevated surgical risk. DASI 0-10: Severely limited. 10-25: Moderately limited. 25-40: Mildly limited. >40: Good to excellent.

Evidence

Sources carried in Scribeable's citation registry for this calculator; guideline version: Hlatky MA et al. 1989.

• Hlatky MA et al. A brief self-administered questionnaire to determine functional capacity (Duke Activity Status Index)Hlatky et al. (DASI) 1989 · 1989 · Duke University · Level I · link last verified 2026-03-28

How Scribeable handles it in the note

When an encounter activates the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) (its highest tier is recommended), Scribeable does not ask you for missing inputs. The score is computed in code from whatever inputs resolve from the transcript, the pasted chart context or charted labs; a computed value is written into the draft only when every required input already resolves.

The score is computed in code from the resolved inputs, not recalled by the language model. A stated Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) value is compared against the computed one when the draft's structured summary carries it; a disagreement found there is flagged to the second drafting pass, which is instructed to correct the score and its interpretation, unless Scribeable has supplied the computed value to that pass, in which case the value the draft writes is checked against the supplied one and a detected difference is shown beside the note for you to adjudicate rather than silently rewritten.

Classified as a risk score: activated strictly, by a documented trigger, never by a permissive reading of the encounter.

Related calculators

• Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI)Estimates perioperative cardiac risk for non-cardiac surgery
• Rutherford Classification for PADClassifies severity of peripheral arterial disease for treatment planning
• ARISCAT ScorePredicts postoperative pulmonary complications to guide perioperative respiratory optimization
• Fontaine Classification for PADStages peripheral arterial disease severity using clinical presentation
• CHA2DS2-VASc ScoreStratifies stroke risk in non-valvular atrial fibrillation to guide anticoagulation decisions
• Duke Treadmill ScorePredicts prognosis from exercise treadmill testing and identifies low-, moderate-, and high-risk patients

Can activate in: Internal Medicine, Primary Care, Surgery, Cardiology, Anesthesiology, Hospital Medicine.