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Updated: Jul 6, 2026
Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy: Getting the Capillary Refill Test Under One's Thumb
Published on: December 2, 2017
Translating best practices in assessing capillary refill
Marlene Dufault1, Barbara Davis, Dorothy Garman
1College of Nursing, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, USA. Marlened@uri.edu
Purpose:
A research roundtable was held in an urban community hospital in the United States to determine the strength, usefulness, and feasibility of empirical and clinical evidence evaluated in a systematic review assessing capillary refill.
Approach:
The roundtable was undertaken to provide an additional dimension for the development of a best-practice guideline. Current practices and policies in this acute care hospital were examined concerning the strength of the evidence.
Conclusions And Recommendations:
Isolated performance of capillary refill assessment is of limited value and no nursing interventions rely solely on this measure. Future research should be directed toward evaluation and comparative analyses of alternate methods of evaluating peripheral perfusion.
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