Your Care Partner Tool Kit

Posted on November 22, 2024

As a follow up from last week’s blog: “What is a Care Partner?”, and inquiries from readers interested in a list of items and tools to have in hand in for a hospital admission or visit to the Emergency Room. As you recall, a care partner (CP) is someone a patient chooses to help him or her receive the expected level of care during and after a hospital stay. A trusted - spouse, other family member, long-time friend or neighbor who is able to help support the patient . . .

A care partner (CP) is someone a patient chooses to help him or her receive the expected level of care during and after a hospital stay. A trusted - spouse, other family member, long-time friend or neighbor who is able to help support the patient (most often when the s/he is too tired or sick to do so) and their choices with the ability to expresses these to the medical team.

Understanding, knowledge and acceptance that common complications in hospital and emergency room care do occur. These can be prevented with a care partner’s attention to detail - anticipating the patient’s needs.

Similar to packing for a trip, as a care partner, you are going to want to pack the basics and comfort items. on hand.

Beginning with the basics:

- A notebook and pen for notes, questions to ask the doctor(s), things you observed related to the admission: time of day, what happened, or is happening, and duration of the episode.

- Contact list of others to call for help (If stored on your phone, organize in group(s) so you can find quickly (i.e., Dad’s Doctors, Mom’s Neighbors).

- Antibacterial hand cleaner, such as Purell. Hospitals are breeding grounds for infections and superbugs, despite staff’s dedication to cleaning efforts.

The #1 way to help prevent an infection is through hand washing. No one

should ever touch a patient without washing their hands firs. This includes

doctors, nurses, lab technicians, physical and respiratory therapists, etc. –

anyone.

- Antibacterial surface wipes. See previous.

- Your chargers for phone or other electronics you bring.

- 2 or more copies of the following important documents:

+ Health insurance card (front and back).

+ Up-to-date list of medications, including vitamins, drug-store.

+ Record of alcohol, tobacco and recreational drug use (no one will judge

this is important).

+ List of recent shots, with dates for each.

+ Medical Power of Attorney.

+ Advanced Directives.

+ List of doctors who treat you or your loved one, with their contact

information

+ List of all recent hospitalizations, with dates, reasons for admission and

outcome.

+ List of all surgeries you or your loved one has ever had, dates of each

Suggested comfort items include:

- Bottles of water – keeping your loved one hydrated and warm (ask nursing staff for heated blankets) is key.

- Include powder packs of Gatorade too.

- Healthy snacks like little packs of nuts, granola bars, protein bars.

In the event the patient is admitted to the hospital, its always a good idea to have a drug reference guide available to learn the essential information for the most commonly prescribed drugs.

An excellent source for detailed hospital care checklists can be found at The Care Partner Project - Hospital Stay Checklists - The Care Partner Project

Source: https://thecarepartnerproject.org

Patient Advocates of Southwest FL, LLC. Better Health. Less Stress. Helping to solve the problems and challenges Patients and their Families Experience While Navigating the Healthcare System.