APGAR SCORE

Dr. Virginia Apgar was an American anesthesiologist and inventor of the Apgar Score, a quick assessment tool used to evaluate the physical condition of newborn babies.

She was a pioneer in neonatology and made significant contributions to the field of maternal and newborn health.

 The Apgar score is a quick assessment tool that evaluates a newborn baby's physical condition immediately after birth.

It is based on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible score.

The score is determined by evaluating the baby on five criteria

1. Heart rate: 0 if absent, 1 if <100 beats per minute, 2 if >=100 beats per minute

1. Respiratory effort: 0 if absent, 1 if slow or irregular, 2 if strong and crying

1. Muscle tone: 0 if limp, 1 if some flexion, 2 if active motion

1. Reflex irritability: 0 if no response, 1 if grimace, 2 if strong cry

1. Color: 0 if blue/pale, 1 if body pink but extremities blue, 2 if all pink

The score is determined by adding up the points for each criterion and providing an overall assessment of the baby's immediate well-being.

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A score of 7 to 10 is considered normal, while scores of 4 to 6 indicate a baby may need medical attention, and scores of 0 to 3 indicate a baby is in serious trouble and requires immediate medical intervention.

The Apgar score is usually performed at 1 and 5 minutes after birth and repeated as necessary to monitor the baby's progress.