Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Practice Exam 2025 – Comprehensive All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The Apgar scoring system evaluates five criteria: Appearance (color), Pulse (heart rate), Grimace response (reflexes), Activity (muscle tone), and Respiration. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 2, with higher scores indicating better physiological functioning.

In this case, the neonate presents with pale color, which typically garners a score of 0 for Appearance, as the ideal score of 2 is given for a fully pink infant. The heart rate of 40 beats per minute indicates a score of 1 for Pulse because a score of 2 is assigned to a heart rate over 100 bpm, while a score of 0 is given for no pulse.

While the other criteria weren't specified in your question, the combination of the score for Appearance and Pulse would lead to a sum of 1. If the other criteria (Grimace response, Activity, and Respiration) were to contribute scores that added up to 1 more point, then a total score of 2 at one minute is plausible.

Regarding the score at five minutes, the infant may have shown improvement in one or more categories, leading to a score of 4 based on the assumption that significant changes in condition occurred since birth.

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