Newborn Assessment Flashcards

A newborn's axillary temperature is 96.8°F (36.0°C). What is the best first action?

Answer: Place the baby skin-to-skin with a warm blanket over both and recheck

Mild hypothermia is treated first by skin-to-skin rewarming, then rechecking the temperature and assessing for causes.

Which sign of respiratory distress involves a sound made on expiration as the newborn closes the glottis to keep the alveoli open?

Answer: Grunting

Expiratory grunting keeps end-expiratory pressure up and is a sign of respiratory distress.

On critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) pulse oximetry screening at 24 hours or later, which result is an immediate fail?

Answer: Any reading below 90%

Under the AAP algorithm, any reading below 90% is a failed screen and needs immediate evaluation.

A newborn has a flat, salmon-pink mark on the nape of the neck that blanches with pressure. What is it?

Answer: Nevus simplex (stork bite)

Nevus simplex is a common benign capillary malformation that blanches, and it usually appears on the nape or eyelids.

In the newborn, femoral pulses that are weak or absent compared with the brachial pulses suggest which condition?

Answer: Coarctation of the aorta

Narrowing of the aorta lowers blood flow to the lower body, so the femoral pulses are weaker than the upper-body pulses.

Using the New Ballard Score, which finding suggests a more mature (term) newborn?

Answer: Creases covering the entire sole

Plantar creases over the whole sole mean advanced physical maturity.

A newborn weighs 2,300 g at 39 weeks' gestation. How is this baby classified?

Answer: Small for gestational age

At 39 weeks, 2,300 g is below the 10th percentile, so the baby is small for gestational age.