The Value of Using an Acuity Score for Neonatal Nursing Research

The Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP) is a physiological-based illness severity tool developed in 1993, and since that time, it has been revised to include SNAP-II Perinatal Extension (SNAPPE-II) for mortality risk assessment and SNAP-II to assess severity of illness. The purpose of this methodologically based article is to provide an overview of SNAP methodology and then to critically evaluate the feasibility and utility of SNAP-II in neonatal nursing research. The SNAP-II scoring measure is parsimonious and has been utilized in a variety of retrospective and prospective medical research with good results; yet, it is not often employed in nursing studies. For research purposes, the required data are readily obtainable from medical records, calculations can be performed via computer to reduce errors, and the resultant score is parsimonious and reproducible. SNAP-II has some limitations, however, and additional research is needed to further refine the scoring system. This methodological article outlines the strengths and limitations of SNAP-II and recommends the use of a severity score to better describe research samples for clinical benchmarking and comparative research. There is extensive interest in validating acuity scores for appropriate patient assignments. Rather than having established ratios, often established by law, nurses are interested in measuring patient acuity and appropriately assigning ratios based on patient needs.