In the extract from the maternity hospital and in the children's outpatient card, parents can see their baby's data on the Apgar scale. These are necessarily two digits that are indicated in the documentation through a fraction. The maximum number of points is 10/10, which, unfortunately, is quite rare.. In fact, this is the first test that your baby passes a minute after birth and after 5 minutes.

A little about the author.

The name of the test comes from the name of the author - Virginia Apgar. This woman is a world-famous pediatrician and surgeon, in 1995 rightfully inducted into the National Hall of Fame for services to medicine and health. She decided to go into medicine because of her great desire to help her brother, who was seriously ill.. First she had to go to college and master the specialty " But already in 1929, Apgar entered Columbia College, becoming one of 9 women - future surgeons..

Her education fell on the years of the Great Depression and by the end of her studies, the amount of debt reached 4 thousand dollars, which for an unmarried girl was just a colossal amount.. After working as an intern for a year, the tireless Virginia again enters the university with a degree in Anesthesiology.. In the future, already being the head of the department of anesthesiology, Apgar would enter and complete his studies twice more, until he finally became a professor of medicine in 1949, and in 1959 a master in public health. It now seems like. But in those days, education was available only to men, and an unmarried student girl was simply nonsense.. For example, Apgar was very upset that she could not attend meetings of the Association of Physicians because they were held in private men's clubs, like bachelor parties..

But, of course, the main brainchild of Apgar is the scale she developed for assessing the viability of newborns in the first minutes after birth.. The colossal work that preceded the justification of the proposed scale is evidenced by the fact that by 1950 Virginia Apgar visited more than seventeen thousand births.. The data obtained were processed and summarized in the presented substantiation of the future test used by neonatologists for more than half a century..

Deciphering indicators.

It is believed that Virginia herself came up with the decoding of APGAR for ease of remembering the indicators.. According to other sources, pediatrician Joseph Butterfield, who proposed it in 1963, is considered the author of the transcript.. Each letter corresponds to a criterion that is evaluated from 0 to 2 points:.

• Appearance - appearance - the color of the skin is estimated from cyanotic and pale (0) to pink (2);

• Pulse - the pulse of the newborn - absent (0), more than 100 (2);

• Grimace - a grimace, which is a reaction in response to irritation - no grimace (0), pronounced (2);

•Activity - motor activity, muscle tone - no (0), the more active the movement, the more points;

• Respiration - breathing function and cry - in the absence of breathing and crying (0), a loud cry and active breathing (2).

The main function of the Apgar scale.

Testing makes it clear to what extent the newborn needs medical care. The lower the score, the worse the condition of the newborn. If the baby scores less than 3 points, his condition is assessed as critical.. The test is repeated after 5 minutes.. With a score of 5, the newborn needs careful observation.. A score of 7-10 points transfers the child to those whose condition does not cause concern.

If the second measurement also repeated low rates, then emergency care is necessary.. The same applies to indicators of the second dimension, if they have decreased in comparison with the first. Carrying out the test greatly simplifies the observation of the primary state of the newborn and his reaction to the stress caused by labor.. Efficiency of response to the deterioration of the condition of the newborn significantly increases his chances of survival..

The use of the Apgar scale for the immediate determination of the condition and primary detection of health disorders of the newborn is designed to help those children who were born with pathologies, through caesarean section, as a result of various methods of childbirth that may threaten the life or health of the child.

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