Instructions for Sarnat Neurologic Exam Certification
Overview
The following process will be utilized to certify all health care providers for reliability of Sarnat Scoring for determination of three potential levels of encephalopathy.
Gold Standard Examiners
Each center should designate a physician examiner who will serve as the gold standard examiner. Attendees of the Florida Neurologic Network (FN3) State Conference, 2016 are “grandfathered” as a certified examiner. For sites that do not have a certified examiner please contact Dr. Weiss for certification via Skype. weissmd@peds.ufl.edu
Steps for Certifying Examiners
- Additional examiners to be certified for each center should be healthcare providers with background knowledge of HIE and the use of therapeutic hypothermia. New examiners should review the individual institution’s HIE protocol, HIE policy and procedure, and complete the education links highlighted in the Sarnat Scoring Education and Skills Validation Tool.
- Prior to evaluating an infant, the gold standard examiner should print and review the Neurological Certification Form and Neurologic Exam- Definitions with the heath care provider to be certified.
- The gold standard examiner and heath care provider to be certified will perform 2 neurologic exams of 2 different infants. One of the infants selected for certification examination must have some abnormality in any of the six exam categories the other may be a normal newborn.
Submitted exams will be reviewed and sites will be notified via email upon successful certification. This email indicating certification should be kept in the regulatory binder with exam submissions at each institution.
Maintenance
The Gold Standard Examiner at each site is responsible for annual review of the neurologic exam definitions and procedures for all certified examiners at their site through review of the training slides posted on the FN3 website. Annual training must be documented on the site’s training log and submitted to FN3 for documentation.
The office of the Florida Neurologic Network will maintain a list of the Gold Standard examiners and certified examiners for each site.