To All Caregivers, Every so often I bring this up but a three ring binder can be a life saver. My binder had tabs for each section, this only takes a few minutes to set up and will save you so much stress and time.
The front should have a calendar with upcoming appointments.
1. Medical proxy info..... who and what their expectations are for care
2. All insurance information, photo copies front and back of cards
3. Prescriptions/Dosages etc., make extra copies to hand to EMTs ERs etc. keep this updated for every change and maybe why the change ex: drug removed because of adverse effects, this helps if another facility recomends a drug again
4. Print out of all labs, if you get them the day of or at Dr office there is no charge, sometimes there is a charge to get them later.
5. Admission and discharge summaries, again if you go back later to get copies they may charge you. This can also include day procedures ie: a tap with how many litres and whether or not albumin given and how much, endoscopies etc.
6. I also had a chart for blood sugars and insulin amounts given, this was only kept for 30 days.
My binder was RED..... and everyone knew my red binder, after a while ERs and Drs knew to make my print out without asking!
In the back pouch I kept a copy of prescription print out that had all side effects listed.
The home binder was plain old blue.
This one was more for whomever was helping at home. I had a week at a glance calendar with who was coming in and what time they were coming and leaving. I would leave notes for what his night was like, any med changes ie: increase enulose.
I did have a girl who was being paid by insurance to come in, If she didnt leave a note then I had to assume she didnt show so no pay for her. If Doug had a good day then I wanted to know that too, she also had to chart his sugar level and how much insulin was given. Even this was a positive tool, if I had to call the doctor I could give them an honest amount of information instead of something vague.
As a matter of fact a few home programs are now using this tool to pass on to caregivers, the Visiting nurses loved it as they could spend a few less minutes with questions and more time with Doug! They also are recommending this to their patients families.
I hope this helps everyone.
Purple Nana