08/18/2026
🩺 **NCLEX MUST-KNOW: PERIPHERAL SKIN ASSESSMENT** 🩺
A quick peripheral assessment can give you **important clues about circulation, hydration, fluid balance, nutrition, and overall health.** 👩⚕️
Here are **5 key areas every nursing student should know:**
🩸 **1. Capillary Refill**
Check peripheral circulation by pressing the nail bed and observing how quickly color returns.
📌 **NCLEX tip:** Normal capillary refill is generally **< 2 seconds**.
💧 **2. Skin Turgor**
Helps assess skin elasticity and hydration status.
📌 **Remember:** Delayed return of the skin may suggest dehydration, but assess alongside other clinical findings.
🦵 **3. Edema**
Know the difference:
➡️ **Pitting edema:** indentation remains after pressure.
➡️ **Non-pitting edema:** no indentation remains.
💇♀️ **4. Hair Assessment**
Look at **distribution, texture, amount, color**, and abnormalities such as hair loss, thinning, or brittle hair.
💅 **5. Nail Assessment**
Assess **color, shape, thickness, texture, cleanliness, and capillary refill**.
Changes in nails can provide clues to underlying health problems.
🎯 **NCLEX PRIORITY:**
**LOOK → FEEL → COMPARE → DOCUMENT**
Don't just notice an abnormal finding—**assess it, compare both sides, consider the patient's overall condition, and document appropriately.**
💙 **APEX RN PREP**
Making NCLEX concepts simple, visual, and easy to remember!
💬 **NCLEX Challenge:**
A nurse presses a patient's swollen ankle for 5 seconds and an indentation remains after the pressure is released.
**What type of edema is this?** 👇
