Caregiver guide
Hospital Discharge Checklist for Family Caregivers
October 2026 · KoraCommand
The short version
Discharge day is fast. A nurse arrives with a folder, a wheelchair is already in the hall, and the conversation that decides the next month is over quickly. You do not need to slow the hospital down. You need to leave with five answers, and you should not leave until you have them.
Do not leave until you can answer these five things:
- What changed. The diagnosis, in plain words, and what the hospital did about it.
- Which medications are new, changed or stopped. Written against the list you brought in.
- When the follow-up is. The date, or the name of the person who is booking it.
- Which warning signs mean call now. And whether that call is to the clinic or to 911.
- Who you call after hours. A number that answers at 2 a.m. on a Sunday.
Ask the nurse or the discharge planner to go through the packet with you, and write the answers on its first page. Everything below is the longer version of those five lines.
Before discharge day
The most useful work happens before anyone says the word discharge. Three things to do while your parent is still on the ward:
- Meet the discharge planner early. Ask on the first full day who the discharge planner or case manager is, and tell them you want to be in the discharge conversation. A planner who knows your name calls you before the decision is made, not after.
- Confirm home or rehab. Ask whether your parent is going home, to a rehab unit, or to a skilled nursing stay, and who decided. If it is home, ask what the team expects your parent to be able to do on day one: stairs, the bathroom, getting out of a chair alone.
- Arrange transport and who will be home. Decide who is driving, whether a car works or a wheelchair van is needed, and who will be in the house the first night and the first morning. The hospital will ask; have the answer ready.
If you think discharge is coming too early, or home is not safe, say so, early and plainly, to the discharge planner or the nurse in charge. If the answers about stairs, the bathroom and the first night are not there, ask whether a rehab stay or home health visits are an option before the discharge is final. If your parent is on Medicare and was admitted as an inpatient, the hospital gives them a written notice of the right to appeal a discharge; ask the discharge planner how that works, and ask before discharge day if you can.
The discharge conversation checklist
This is the conversation with the folder. Bring the medication list you walked in with, a pen, and if a sibling cannot be there, a phone on speaker. The same rule as any appointment applies: if you want to record it, ask first, and our guide on recording a doctor's visit says how. Go through these in order:
- The diagnosis in plain words. Ask the nurse or doctor to say it without the chart language, then say it back to them in your own words until they nod.
- Medication changes, in three lists: started, changed, stopped. For each one, the name, the dose, the time of day, and why. Ask which new prescriptions must be filled today and which can wait until the morning.
- Activity and diet limits. What your parent may lift, how far they may walk, whether they may shower, drive, or be left alone, and for how long. Ask about salt, fluids and alcohol if any of them matter for this condition.
- Wound or device care. If there is a dressing, a drain, a catheter, oxygen or a monitor, ask for the steps in writing and watch a nurse do it once before you do it yourself.
- Pending test results. Ask which results were still out when your parent left, who is watching for them, and who will call you. A result that lands after discharge is the one most likely to land nowhere.
Of all of these, the medication lists are the ones that go wrong most often, and the stopped list is the one families miss, because the old bottle is still in the cabinet at home. Ask for every change to be written against the medication list you brought in, so the old list and the new one are the same page.
Follow-ups: who owns each one
A discharge packet usually lists the follow-ups. It less often says whether anyone has booked them.
- Primary care within about 7 days. Ask the discharge team for a visit with your parent's regular doctor within about a week of getting home, sooner if they say so. If the clinic cannot book it before you leave, get the direct line and call from the parking lot.
- Specialists. The cardiologist, the surgeon, the neurologist: each needs a date, a reason and a phone number. Ask whether the hospital is placing the referral or whether you are.
- Therapy and home health. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, a visiting nurse. Ask which agency, when the first visit is, and who to call if nobody has rung by the second day.
- Scheduled, or whose job is scheduling. For every appointment above, you should be able to say one of two things before you leave: it is on the calendar, or I am the one booking it.
The first 48 hours home
The first two days are when the plan either takes hold or quietly comes apart. Four things, in this order:
- Fill the new prescriptions. Before the first missed dose, not after. If a pharmacy says a medication needs an authorization, call the discharge line that day.
- Set up the equipment. Walker, shower chair, commode, oxygen, a hospital bed: have it in the house before your parent is, and know who to call if it does not arrive.
- Clear the fall hazards. Loose rugs, cords across the floor, the dark hallway to the bathroom. A night light and a cleared path do more than most families expect.
- Post the warning-signs list. On the fridge, by the bed, in the family group chat: wherever everyone who will be in the house can see it, with the number to call next to it.
The warning-signs list should come from the discharge team and be specific to what your parent was treated for. Ask for it in plain words, and ask which signs mean call the clinic and which mean call 911. This guide cannot tell you which signs matter for your parent; the discharge team can.
The paperwork problem
You leave the hospital with a folder: the discharge summary, the new medication list, the follow-up sheet, the wound-care instructions, the warning signs, a page about the equipment company. Within a week, two of those pages are in the car, one is on the fridge, and the one the specialist asks for is nowhere.
The fix is simple and it has to happen on day one: photograph every page the day you get it, before any of them go missing. A photo on your phone is already better than a folder in a drawer.
With Kora, the photos become the plan. She reads the discharge papers, files them under your parent, and proposes what she found as cards for the family to approve:
- Reads the discharge papers and files them under your parent, so the summary is findable the day a specialist asks for it.
- Flags medication changes on their own line, started, changed and stopped, so nothing moves on the plan until the family says yes.
- Drafts the follow-ups as appointments to confirm and the warning signs as a note, and the whole care circle sees the same thing.
Nothing joins the plan until someone in the family taps yes, and nothing in it is medical advice. Kora reports what the papers say; the discharge team and your parent's doctor decide what it means. More on how she works is on our questions page.
Questions families ask
What should a caregiver ask before a parent is discharged from the hospital?
Five things, and do not leave until you can answer each one: what changed, which medications are new, changed or stopped, when the follow-up appointment is and who is booking it, which warning signs mean call now, and who you call after hours. Ask the nurse or the discharge planner to go through the packet with you, and write the answers on its first page.
What if we think discharge is happening too early or home is not safe?
Say so, early and plainly, to the discharge planner or the nurse in charge. Ask who will be home, and how your parent will manage the stairs, the bathroom and the first night. If the answers are not there, ask whether a rehab stay or home health visits are an option before the discharge is final. If your parent is on Medicare and was admitted as an inpatient, the hospital gives them a written notice of the right to appeal a discharge; ask the discharge planner how that works, and ask before discharge day if you can.
Which medication changes matter most at discharge?
All three lists: what was started, what was changed (a new dose or a new time), and what was stopped. The stopped list is the one families miss, because the old bottle is still in the cabinet at home. Ask for every change to be written against the medication list you brought in, and ask which new prescriptions need to be filled today.
How soon should the follow-up appointment be after discharge?
Ask for a primary care visit within about 7 days of getting home, sooner if the discharge team says so. Specialist, therapy and home health referrals each need a date too, or the name of whoever is booking them. Before you leave, know for each one whether it is already scheduled or whether scheduling it is yours.
What warning signs after discharge mean we should call right away?
The discharge team should give you a short list specific to what your parent was treated for. Ask for it in plain words, and ask which signs mean call the clinic and which mean call 911. Post it where everyone at home can see it. This guide cannot tell you which signs matter for your parent; the discharge team can.
What do we do with the discharge papers once we get home?
Photograph every page the day you get them, before any of them go missing. Kora reads the photos, files them under your parent, and proposes what she found as cards: the medication changes on their own line, the follow-ups as appointments to confirm, the warning signs as a note the whole family can see. Nothing joins the plan until someone in the family taps yes.