It has been said that each baby born in a modern hospital worldwide is first seen in Dr Virginia Apgar’s eyes. Her quick and easy method, the “Apgar score,” is standard practice for the assessment of the viability of newborn children. Developed by obstetric teams in the early 1950s and implemented quickly, the technique decreased infant mortality rate and set the groundwork for neonatology.
On a day in 1952, a medical student commented on Dr Virginia Apgar asking a way to evaluate the physical condition of an infant after birth. Five assessment criteria were immediately identified by Dr Apgar, i.e., breathing, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes and skin colour. The method was soon named “Apgar Score,” and this five criteria technique was soon adopted by the doctors all around the world. Why the Apgar Score is so famous and adopted by doctors all around the world? Well, check the reason below. We are going to discuss in detail about Dr Virgina Apgar and Apgar Score given by her.
A woman behind the Apgar score
Born in Westfield, New Jersey, Dr Virginia Apgar is the official creator of the Apgar Score, which is a newborn infant’s neonatal prognosis used in delivery rooms to evaluate the health of a child. Colour, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone, and respirations at 1-minute and 5-minutes after birth need to be tested in a child to evaluate his/her health. She was an obstetric anesthesiologist who worked in Sloan Hospital for Women. Dr Virginia Apgar developed this Apgar Score system for evaluating the health condition of newborn infants. A curiosity in obstetrics procedure and, in particular, in the care of a newborn baby led to the development of a simple system to easily determine the safety and viability of new babies.
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Dr Virginia Apgar completed her education from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933. She attained some amazing surgical skills at the time when career opportunities for women were limited in surgery. She was also specialized in anaesthesia. Later in 1949, Dr Apgar became a professor of anesthesiology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was the first woman to hold this senior position at the university. We thank Dr Apgar for her idea! Today, every child born in a hospital is seen in Virginia Apgar’s eyes for the first time.
Changing perceptions of newborn care
In 1950, Dr Apgar was concerned about the 20 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births in the United States. Obstetric anaesthesia was blamed for the majority of newborn children’s death in the United States. During that time, there were no terms on which a child’s health could be evaluated “normal” during birth. Dr Apgar solved this problem by sharing the Apgar Score for determining the physical condition of a child in 1 minute after birth. The ‘Apgar Score’ was a revolutionary technique introduced by Dr Virginia Apgar to recognize the needs of a newborn baby. By early 1960, the Apgar Score was adopted was almost every doctor in the hospitals of the United States of America.
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In a 1966 analysis, Dr Apgar found out that “Apgar Score” will be used without challenges and special equipment. No wonder the Apgar score achieved immediate recognition and easily implemented nationwide in delivery rooms. Today “Apgar Score” is known to be the “Gold Standard” for an evaluation of a newborn baby’s physical health in the delivery room. It’s quite surprising to know that the Apgar score was tried to improve. In 2010, Stanford University researchers reported that what they say was a more “trustworthy and electronic Apgar ranking,” called the PhysiScore.
Beyond the Apgar score
When a baby is born, a doctor schedules timer for one minute and the other five minutes. Once each time period is over, your baby will receive the first “tests” from a nurse or doctor, called “Apgars.” This scoring system helps the doctor to estimate the general physical condition of your baby after birth. What if the Apgar score is low? If the Apgar score of your baby is low, then an oxygen mask will be put directly on your baby’s face to inject oxygen to the lungs. If the newborn child does not breathe alone in a few minutes, a tube could be put on your baby’s windpipe to improve the heartbeat. The child will be brought to the special care nursery for more comprehensive medical care if her Apgar values remain low after those diagnosis procedures. A perfect 10 Apgar score means that the child’s health condition is good. A child with a 0-3 Apgar score needs immediate medical attention. Careful care of the newborn is an immediate answer to the current status of the infant.
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Dr Apgar’s role in Medicine
When gender inequality was at its peak, Dr Apgar started practising medicine. She also shared her dissatisfaction and frustration on gender inequalities, especially in the area of employment, and was constantly moving towards new areas where her talents and ability could be exercised. She was a remarkable woman who gave a new face to the medicine. The creativity strategy speaks the efforts of Dr Apgar to build practical solutions that not only raise awareness and improve understanding but also move successfully into clinical practice.
Dr Apgar has shown that simple solution approaches can be easily implemented in the delivery rooms worldwide. Her score is widely used in different specialities, including anesthesiology, which cares for newborns. Apgar never retired from her job and was actively working till her death. Her final years were slowed down by chronic liver disease. She died at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on August 7, 1974. To check more about her check DR. Virginia Apgar wiki. Even after 70 years, the Apgar Score remains the first diagnostic assessment of a newborn baby, despite significant technological developments.
Apgar’s Score also had a lasting impact on improving the health of newborn babies. Newborns were previously regarded as a by-product of birth, but now they are cared very nicely in the delivery room.