What to write down and file after your parent falls

How to use this checklist

Write the record within twenty-four hours. Detail disappears fast, and by the weekend you will remember the day but not the times, and the times are what people ask for.

Write facts. Where it happened, at what time, who found them, what they were wearing on their feet, what was said. Not what you think caused it. Your reading of the cause is not part of the record, and leaving it out makes the record more useful, not less.

Quote people rather than summarising them. What the nurse told you, in their words, with their name and their role.

Keep one running page for falls, in date order, at the front of the binder. One page with three dated entries answers a question in seconds that otherwise takes an evening of remembering.

Do the calls in the first block and the filing in the second. The calls have office hours; the paperwork does not.

The after-a-fall paperwork checklist

Twenty-eight items in four blocks: the record of the event, the documents, who to tell, and what to book before you file anything away.

Do the record block first and do it in one sitting. The other three blocks can be spread across the week without losing anything.

Write it on a single dated page and keep it with any previous ones. If this is the first, start the page anyway. The value of the record shows up on the second entry, and by then the first cannot be reconstructed from memory.

If you were not there, write down who was and what they told you, in their words, and mark clearly which parts are theirs and which are yours. Second-hand facts are still facts, as long as the page says whose they are.

• The record — the date and the time, as precisely as you can establish them
• The record — where it happened: which room, which surface, which direction they were going
• The record — who found them, and how long it was before anyone came
• The record — what they were doing, written as a direct quote in their own words
• The record — what they had on their feet
• The record — whether it was light or dark, and which lights were on
• The record — whether a cane, walker or frame was in use, and where it was found
• The record — who you called, at what time, and what you were told to do
• The record — whether an ambulance attended, and the incident or run number
• The record — the hospital, the department, and the arrival and discharge times
• The record — the name and role of every clinician who spoke to you
• The record — what you were told, written the way they said it rather than the way you understood it
• The documents — the discharge paperwork, filed the day it arrives
• The documents — the written follow-up instructions, with a name beside each item for who is booking it
• The documents — a note of any test or imaging that was done, and how to request the report
• The documents — every referral, with the department name and its direct phone number
• The documents — a fresh medication list copied from the labels after discharge, dated today
• The documents — any equipment issued: what it is, who supplied it, loan or keep, and the return date
• The documents — any new prescription, and where it was filled
• The documents — the bill, the insurance claim and every reference number, with the date
• The documents — mileage, parking and any expense, straight into the family ledger
• Who to tell — call the doctor's office, say the fall happened and where it was treated, and ask what they need from you
• Who to tell — tell the pharmacy if the medication list changed
• Who to tell — tell whoever comes to the house next: the helper, the neighbour, the cleaner
• Who to tell — send your siblings the facts, in writing, the same day, so nobody is briefed by rumour
• Who to tell — if it happened in a facility or with a paid carer present, ask for a copy of their own written report and note its reference number
• Then — book the follow-up appointment before you file anything, and write the questions on a card
• Then — walk the room where it happened with the home safety list and write down what you see

Questions