What is an APGAR Score?
An APGAR Score is a method for assessing newborns just after delivery. APGAR Score tests are fairly easy to administer and are usually done when the newborn is one minute old and five minutes old. In 1953, medical trailblazer Dr. Virginia Apgar developed this scoring method because children born at this time in hospitals were often partly anesthetized from medication given to sedate laboring mothers. The APGAR Score method was also used to help predict which children might have born with birth defects like cerebral palsy. The APGAR Score has ten possible points and evaluates five specific and easily observable areas. APGAR is mnemonic device for remembering the five areas: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration. Infants can receive up to two points in each area. For Appearance, doctors primarily look at color. An infant that is completely blue at birth, suggesting oxygen deprivation gets zero points in this category. A child that is pink with blue extremities gets a sing
