First 48 hours after bringing an elderly parent home from the hospital
You do not have to solve the next two weeks tonight. Start with the discharge instructions, a clear path to the bathroom, and someone who knows what needs to happen next.
Put tonight’s contacts, medication questions, home setup, and family coverage on one printable page. No email or account needed.
This guide helps you organize the next steps. Follow your parent’s discharge instructions for medicines, activity, food, and fluids; ask the care team or pharmacist about anything unclear.
Tonight: make the next few hours manageable
Keep the instructions and medicines together
Put the discharge papers, current medication list, and daytime and after-hours contact numbers in one easy-to-find place.
Check what is new, changed, stopped, or unchanged. Confirm the next dose and who will help, using the written instructions. Do not guess at a dose or change its timing.
Check that prescriptions are ready and collected. If a medicine is missing or the list conflicts with an old bottle, call the pharmacist or discharge contact for instructions.
Check the bed-to-bathroom route and who is helping
Clear rugs, cords, and clutter from the route to the bathroom, kitchen, and main chair. Check lighting, narrow turns, and any stairs your parent must use.
Check whether getting in and out of the bed or chair is manageable with the help and equipment the care team recommended. Ask for advice if it is not.
Confirm ordered equipment is available and you know how to use it, including a walker, cane, shower chair, raised toilet seat, or other bathroom support if recommended.
Put a charged phone within reach. Arrange meals and drinks that follow the discharge instructions, including any food or fluid restrictions, and help with bathing or toileting if needed.
Name the person helping tonight, their backup, and the morning check-in person. Confirm with the care team what supervision or overnight help is needed.
Before bedtime, have a family member walk the route from the bed to the bathroom and check that the lights can be reached and turned on from where they are needed. A nearby outlet may power a light, but first check that the outlet is reachable and the cord can stay out of the walking path. An existing lamp or overhead light may be enough.
Move cords, loose rugs, and clutter out of the way. Check that doorways and turns are clear. Do not ask your parent to test the route or try a walk they have not been cleared to do. Good lighting can make the route easier to see; it does not replace hands-on help if your parent needs someone beside them. Ask the care team what help is needed for nighttime trips.
Product illustration
For the nighttime route
Choose your nighttime glow.
GE UltraBrite dimmable light-sensing LED night-light
Choose a soft glow or turn it up for a brighter path. The dusk-to-dawn sensor switches the light on and off for you.
Adjustable 1–100 lumens
Dusk-to-dawn sensor
Integrated LED
Good to know: One night-light may not illuminate the whole bed-to-bathroom route.
Chosen from published specifications, without hands-on testing. FEP doesn’t currently earn commissions on these products. How we choose.
How will your parent ask the nearby caregiver for help?
A reachable call button can sound a pager carried by someone helping nearby. It fits a person who can press the button and has someone available to respond. Mount the button within reach of the bed; agree another way to call if it goes unanswered. A reachable phone or familiar way to call may be enough.
Check the kit’s limits below. Test it from the actual room, with the pager where the caregiver will keep it. An audible alert may not wake a sleeper. For an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Product illustration
For someone nearby to answer
Ask someone nearby for help.
Smart Caregiver two call buttons with standalone pager
Press a button and the caregiver’s pager sounds. The kit includes two buttons for use in different rooms.
Two call buttons
Portable audible pager
Mountable buttons
Good to know: Your parent must be able to press it and someone nearby must respond. No emergency-service connection or out-of-range warning; test before each use.
Model TL-5102TP · Two buttons and one audible pager · Reviewed 2026-10-04
Chosen from published specifications, without hands-on testing. FEP doesn’t currently earn commissions on these products. How we choose.
If overnight leaks are a problem, keep a clean change ready.
Suitable washable bed protection can make cleanup simpler. Start with protection you already have, keep a clean pad and bedding change close by, and follow the washing instructions. Bed protection does not treat the cause of leakage.
Product illustration
For overnight leaks
Make overnight leaks easier to clean up.
Sures reusable incontinence bed pad
A washable quilted pad adds absorbent bed protection where overnight leaks occur. Reuse it after washing in cold water and drying on low heat.
34 × 36 inches
Washable, cold water
Waterproof backing
Good to know: For a pressure-relieving mattress, check its instructions or ask the care team before adding a pad.
Model LVA1016M · 34 × 36 inches, green, single pad · Reviewed 2026-10-04
Chosen from published specifications, without hands-on testing. FEP may earn a commission from the marked Vive Health link. How we choose.
Know what needs help now and what can go in the notes
Emergency—call 911 or your local emergency number:
Sudden confusion, an unexplained sudden change in alertness, or unresponsiveness.
Possible stroke signs that begin suddenly: weakness or numbness (especially on one side), dizziness or trouble walking, trouble speaking or seeing, or a severe headache with no known cause.
Call the care team as directed: For concerns that are not emergencies, follow the discharge plan’s warning-sign instructions and contact numbers. Call if a listed symptom appears, medicine instructions are unclear, a prescription is unavailable, or the planned help is not enough for your parent’s needs. If you are unsure whether a change can wait, seek clinical advice now.
Record for the next planned call: Routine questions, completed tasks, appointment details, and observations the care team has told you can wait. Note what changed and when, so the next caregiver or clinician has something specific to work with. Notes should never delay urgent help.
Tomorrow morning: check what was harder than expected
A short check-in can show which parts of the home plan need adjusting. Listen to your parent, especially if they were too tired to explain things last night.
Ask about sleep, pain, meals, bathroom use, and getting around. Record food or fluid intake only as the care team instructed.
Check for medication problems, side effects, missed doses, dizziness, weakness, falls, or near-falls. Use the call instructions above for any concern; do not wait until morning for urgent help or change medicines on your own.
Follow the discharge instructions for wound or incision care and any breathing, fever, or other changes the care team told you to watch. Use the call instructions above if a concern appears.
Give each unresolved question an owner: who will call, which number they will use, and when they will report back.
Second day: confirm visits, supplies, and the next handoff
If home health was ordered, a referral alone does not tell you when help will arrive. Call the agency and ask:
“Have you received the referral, and have you accepted my parent for care?”
“Which services are confirmed, and what is the date and time or arrival window for the first visit?”
“Who should we call if the visit is not confirmed or the plan changes? What should we arrange while waiting?”
If the agency cannot confirm the plan, contact the hospital discharge team. The home health guide explains the questions to ask and how visits differ from day-to-day help at home.
Confirm equipment and supply deliveries, delayed prescriptions, follow-up appointments, and any transport needed. Write down who schedules, collects, or drives.
Name owners and backups for meals, pharmacy calls, paperwork, and check-ins. If family coverage is falling short, ask the discharge team what support to arrange.
Send one concise family update and agree on the next check-in: what changed, what is done, what is still open, and who is helping next.
A simple note for the next person helping
When
What to pass on
Next step
Tonight
Written instructions, phone numbers, bathroom route, and who is staying or checking in
Name the helper and backup
Tomorrow morning
What was difficult overnight and questions needing a call
Name the caller and record the answer
Second day
Confirmed visits, deliveries, appointments, and gaps in family coverage
Agree on the next handoff and check-in
Keep the next two weeks together with the $5 Home Kit
When calls, appointments, and family updates start piling up, the First 14 Days Home Kit gives them a place to go. Across about 20 fillable and printable pages, you get call scripts and callback tracking, appointments, family tasks and coverage, and caregiver handoffs.
You get two weekly overview pages and one reusable detailed daily page—print another copy whenever you need it.
Partial preview from the current kit
Caregiver handoff · Section 17
Leave clear notes for the next person helping
What changed?
What still needs doing?
What should the next person ask about?
Partial preview
$5 one-time purchase. No account or subscription. Fill the packet in your browser, then print, save as PDF, or copy your work before leaving. Entries are not sent to Family Elder Planning or saved for a later visit.
