Med Term Tuesday Inspiration

I have been inspired to start a Med Term Tuesday Posy by Lindseyexplores (You can find a link to her blog on the side).

It's definitely something productive to do while I sit here at work...twittling my thumbs...waiting for the end of June to roll around. 73 More days!

This first post is by Lindseyexplores, I will start coming up with my own soon after.

Welcome to Medical Terminology Tuesday my fellow nerds! Here we will explore terminology and frequently asked PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam) questions!

Sounds exciting, no?

This week we will be learning a little bit about the Apgar score.
The Apgar score is used to determine the immediate health status of a newborn baby. It is not necessarily a predictor of health, however.
The Apgar score is obtained by measuring five criteria at 1 minute, and again at 5 minutes. Scores add up to a maximum of 10 points.
You can receive a score of 0, 1, or 2 for each of the five criteria. They are:

Appearance (color): 0= blue, 1= extremities are blue, 2= pink
Pulse (heart rate): 0= absent, 1= <100, 2= >100
Grimace (reflex irritability): 0= no response, 1= grimace when stimulated, 2= pull away when stimulated
Activity (muscle tone): 0= none, 1= some flexion, 2= active movement
Respiration: 0= absent, 1= weak or irregular, 2= strong
If scores are low (<3), they are usually repeated at regular intervals. Scores above a 7 are considered reassuring.
A low score just indicates that the newborn requires immediate medical attention, but it does not make long-term predictions on the child’s health.