The Apgar Score The Apgar Score consists of a group of parameters that were developed by Dr. Virginia Apgar in 1952 (Watterberg et al. , 2015). The Apgar score has become a widely used method to assess the general condition of the infant and measure whether the newborn responds to resuscitation (Watterberg et al., 2015). Resuscitation should be initiated before the Apgar score is obtained at 1 minute (Watterberg et al., 2015) (Pairman et al., 2015). A newborn receives an overall Apgar score between 0 and 10 at 1 minute and again at 5 minutes. after birth. This is based on the newborn's heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability and skin color (Crisp et al., 2014). Many factors can impact the Apgar score, such as length of fetal gestation, medications used during pregnancy and delivery, resuscitation, and neurological abnormalities (Watterberg et al., 2015). In the case of a newborn receiving an Apgar score less than 7 at the 5-minute check-up, the Apgar score is repeated every 5 minutes for 20 minutes after birth or until the condition is resolved. of the newborn stabilizes (Watterberg et al., 2015) (Crisp et al., 2014). Table 1. SignScore 0 Score 1 Score 2 Heart rate Absent Slow (100 bpm Respiratory effort Absent Slow, irregular, hypoventilation Good, vigorous crying Muscle tone Absent Some flexion of the extremities The authors recommend that 'after the first postnatal check takes place at 30 seconds and includes additional considerations of Apgar score such as gestation period (i.e. premature), meconium in amniotic fluid or on skin and any visible congenital anomalies (Pairman et al..,