Hospital discharge guidance
A practical hospital-to-home checklist for families
A safe transition home begins with the hospital’s official instructions. This checklist helps your family capture those instructions, prepare questions, and assign practical follow-through without trying to replace the care team.
Prepared by JIC by Healey · Updated September 30, 2026 · Practical organization guidance
Before leaving the hospital
Ask for the written discharge instructions and review them with the person responsible for follow-through. Confirm who to call with questions and what symptoms or changes require urgent attention. Do not rely on memory or a family member’s informal notes when official instructions are available.
- Written medication list, including what changed and when the next dose is due
- Follow-up appointments and the person responsible for scheduling or transportation
- Equipment, supplies, prescriptions, and services that must be arranged
- Diet, activity, wound-care, therapy, or monitoring instructions
- Care-team phone numbers and after-hours guidance
Prepare the home for the first 24 hours
Walk through the practical arrival. Where will the person rest? Is the route into the home clear? Are required medications and supplies available? Who will stay, call, drive, pick up prescriptions, prepare meals, or contact the care team?
Write each responsibility beside a real name. “The family will handle it” is not a plan; “Jordan will pick up the prescription before 5 PM” is.
Keep one working question list
New questions often appear after the family reaches home. Record them in one place, along with the date, the professional contacted, and the answer received. Separate observations from conclusions: write what happened and ask the care team what it means.
Review the first 30 days
Keep appointments, equipment questions, professional instructions, transportation, authorized helpers, and unresolved tasks visible. Update the working plan whenever the care team changes an instruction. Call 911 or local emergency services for an emergency; an organizer does not monitor symptoms or determine urgency.
Example: turn one responsibility into a handoff
Instead of “someone will arrange the follow-up,” write: “Jordan will call the clinic using the number on the discharge papers, record the appointment time, and confirm who is driving.” Keep the care team’s instructions with that entry. Record an unanswered question as a question—not as a new medical instruction.
Start with the official plan, then organize the follow-through
You can begin with a folder and a written task list. The JIC system adds reusable places for instructions, questions, responsibilities and follow-up across the first 30 days. See actual pages and what is included before choosing it.
Official guidance to keep alongside your organizer
Medicare’s Your Discharge Planning Checklist helps patients and caregivers discuss discharge arrangements with the care team. Use your own team’s instructions for individual care decisions. JIC organizes follow-through; it is not a clinical review or a substitute for those instructions.