Accuracy of primary bedside neonatal nurse-generated score for neonatal acute physiology (SNAP) scores

To determine whether 24-hour SNAP scores generated from data gathered by primary bedside nurses agreed with the SNAP scores of one trained research nurse.

Primary bedside nurses (n = 50) in a level III private nursery collected data necessary for generating 24-hour SNAP scores on 60 consecutively admitted inborn neonates who lived at least 24 hours. The amount of time required for data collection and scoring was also determined. SNAP scores and the time required to generate them were compared with the unit research nurse's SNAP scores and time required to generate them on the same 60 patients. The Wilcoxon rank test and Spearman's rank correlation were used for statistical analyses.

SNAP scores generated from primary bedside nursing data did not differ from those of the research nurse's SNAP scores (11.7 +/- 0.8 vs 11.4 +/- 0.9 [mean +/- SEM], p = 0.7), and they correlated well over a wide range of SNAP scores (r = 0.93, p = 0.0001). Primary bedside nurses required more time (15 +/- 0.7 vs 3.0 +/- 0.08 minutes, p = 0.0001) to generate SNAP scores than the research nurse.

Primary bedside level III nurses can accurately obtain data for SNAP scores during 8- to 12-hour shifts.