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Head-to-toe assessment and vital signs

How to do a neurovascular check of a limb

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)EMS (NREMT)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

After an injury, a cast or surgery on a limb, neurovascular checks catch poor blood flow and compartment syndrome early.

Step by step

  1. Compare both sides

    Always check the injured limb against the other one. [1]

  2. Color and temperature

    Pale, blue or cold below the injury is a warning. [1]

  3. Capillary refill

    Press a nail bed; color should return in under 2 to 3 seconds. [1]

  4. Pulses

    Below the injury; use a Doppler if you cannot feel it. [1]

  5. Sensation and movement

    Can the patient feel your touch and wiggle fingers or toes? [1]

  6. Pain

    Pain out of proportion, or pain when you gently stretch the fingers or toes, suggests compartment syndrome: call right away. [1]

  7. Record and repeat

    Write findings with time and repeat as ordered. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

53 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
  2. OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.