The Apgar score is named after anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar who devised it. It is a neonatl assessment tool used to score a newborn’s vitality.
A score near zero indicates severe distress (Potter and Perry)
A high score indicates a smooth transition to extrauterine life.
This neonatal assessment scores the following:
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heart and breathing rate
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skin colour
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muscle tone
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reflex response.
The mneumonic:
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Appearance (skin colour)
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Pulse (heart rate)
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Grimace (responsiveness to stimuli, usually in response to nasal and oropharyngeal suction catheter used to clear the airway)
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Activity (muscle tone)
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Respiration (rate and depth of breathing)
This test is initiated at birth, then repeated 1 minute after birth, 5 minutes after birth and continues as needed until the infant is stable. (Albertine, 2001 and Perry, 2006)
Perry, A, G, Potter, P, A, Ross-Kerr, J, C and Wood, M, J. 2006. Canadian fundamentals of nursing. 3rded. Toronto: Elselvier
