Before discharge
- Ask what changed, what is still unresolved, and what family should watch for.
- Confirm the current medication list and the next dose timing.
- Ask whether home health, therapy, nursing, wound care, or equipment is ordered.
- Get phone numbers for after-hours questions and discharge follow-up.
- Assign one family owner for pharmacy pickup, transportation, and family updates.
First 48 hours home
- Set up medications and remove old or confusing medication lists.
- Make sure equipment is in place before the first night whenever possible.
- Check mobility, bathroom access, meals, hydration, pain, and confusion.
- Write down anything that is harder at home than expected.
- Send one short family update so everyone has the same facts.
Days 3-7
- Track symptoms, meals, fluids, sleep, bathroom, mood, pain, mobility, and falls or near-falls.
- Confirm follow-up appointments, transportation, and any ordered tests.
- Confirm home-health or therapy visits happened or are scheduled.
- Adjust family responsibilities based on what is actually taking time.
- Call the care team if instructions are unclear or the plan is not working.
Days 8-14
- Review what is improving, what is unchanged, and what is getting worse.
- Update doctors or home health with concrete notes from the daily log.
- Decide whether more help is needed for bathing, meals, mobility, medication setup, or supervision.
- Start longer-term planning only after the immediate discharge details are stable enough.
Related first-14-days checklists
These pages break the first two weeks into the moments families most often need to clarify.