checklistSubscribers of Record
The Care-Planning Checklist
The three documents and one sentence to have ready before a parent's hospital discharge — not after the call comes.
Before anything happens
- A current medication list, on paper, updated at every admission
- The name and direct line of the discharge planner or case manager
- One written sentence: who is in the house on night one, with a phone number
- Agreed in advance: which family member takes the call, and what they can commit to
Ask before leaving the building
- The discharge summary, on paper
- The reconciled medication list, with changes marked
- The follow-up contact and the date of the first appointment
- What this person cannot do alone for the next 72 hours
If the house is not ready
- Say the true sentence: state plainly who will and will not be there, and when
- Ask what a delay would require, and who decides it
- Ask for the home-care assessment in writing
This checklist covers process and paperwork. It contains no medical guidance and it is not a substitute for anything the clinical team tells you.
The part families skip is the first section, because it has to be done when nothing is wrong. That is also the only section that can be done when nothing is wrong.
Downloadable copies are part of Subscribers of Record. The full text is on this page either way — a checklist behind a paywall would be a strange thing for a magazine about households under pressure.