Capillary Refill for Assessment of Dehydration

Capillary refill is used clinically to assess multiple things in children. This is a prospective observational study of the correlation between capillary refill time and degree of dehydration in children seen in a pediatric ED.

All patient presenting to the pediatric ER at OHSU less than 10 years are eligible to be enrolled if being seen for a condition putting them at risk for dehydration including emesis, diarrhea, etc. Children will have their capillary refill time measured and then sent home with a digital scale to track their weight. This will serve as the standard for calculating percent dehydration. When a patient has reached a stable weight at 1 week we will assume this is their healthy weight. There is no intervention in the study.