What happens during the Apgar score?
At both one minute and five minutes after a baby’s birth, a physician or nurse looks at five vital areas of the newborn’s health. The five categories are both objective and measurable: • Appearance (color) • Pulse (heart rate) • Grimace (also called reflex irritability) • Activity (muscle tone) • Respiration Dr. Luks explained that the one-minute Apgar score measures how well the newborn tolerated the birthing process, and the five-minute score measures how well it is adapting to the environment. She said some infants are also given a 10-minute score, especially if serious problems exist with the baby’s condition. “It is generally accepted that the one-minute score has no predictability for the baby’s long-term health, but the five-minute score may have some,” Dr. Luks said. She added, “It’s important to keep in mind that a lower Apgar score at either interval doesn’t mean that the baby won’t eventually be just fine.” For example, a baby delivered by cesarean section may have a lower-t
Related Questions
- What happens if the range of items attempted by a child does not correspond with any of the column headings on the Raw Score to Ability Score tables?
- What happens if a program doesn’t understand why they received a certain score or there are specific questions about their ERS summary report(s)?
- What happens during the Apgar score?
