A nurse explains care steps to an older parent and an adult child.

Home from the hospital

A blank checklist to fill in with the nurse before your parent comes home.

One page. Fill it in on screen, or print it.

How to use it

Save the sheet with the care papers. You may not need it now, and that is fine.
Before a trip home, ask the nurse about medicine changes, help, supplies, and the next visit.
Ask them to show you any care job you will do. Say what help you can and cannot give.
Get the steps and phone numbers in writing.

Planning the trip home from the hospital

A hospital stay may change the help your parent needs at home. Leaving the hospital is called discharge, and a nurse, case manager, or social worker usually helps plan it. With your parent’s okay, join that talk.

Describe a usual day at home and what your parent could do before this stay, including stairs, toilet needs, and time spent alone. Say exactly what you can offer, with your work hours, distance, and limits. Do not agree to a care task you have not learned or cannot do.

Before the trip home, ask for the written home-care plan, which medicines start, stop, or change, what supplies and help are arranged, and which warning signs mean calling 911 or the clinic. If home does not seem ready, tell the nurse and planner now. If Medicare covers the stay, ask for the notice about discharge review, and read its call steps and deadline right away.

More sheets you can print

Which medicines were takenIf you or a helper hands your parent their medicines, a simple record stops the guessing about whether tonight’s dose was taken.Health changes to tell the doctorMaybe your parent is more tired than usual, eating less, or a little unsteady. Small changes are easy to forget by the time you reach the doctor’s office.Private health and insurance detailsA private page for health details and insurance plans. Add member numbers and keep card copies behind it.