What to pack in a hospital bag for your parent

How to use this checklist

Pack for two nights. That is long enough to be comfortable and short enough that you can carry it in one hand with a folder under your arm.

Work top to bottom. The first block is paperwork, and it is the block that changes what happens on the ward, because it answers the questions you will be asked at admission while you are tired and your parent is not able to answer them.

Write a list of what is in the bag and tape it inside the lid. Hospital bags lose things between the ward, the day room and the discharge lounge, and a taped list is how you get the hearing aids home.

Put your parent's name on everything in permanent marker, including cases, chargers and glasses.

Keep the packed bag in the hall cupboard and check it once a month. The only part that goes stale is the medication list, so print a fresh one and date it whenever anything changes.

The hospital go-bag checklist

Twenty-eight items in three blocks: the paperwork, the bag for your parent, and the small bag for you.

Print it and tick as you go. If someone else is packing while you drive, send them a photograph of the page and tell them the first nine items are the ones that matter, because those are what get asked for at admission.

The blocks are deliberate. Paperwork goes in a folder or a large envelope, never loose in the bag, because it comes out at a desk and goes back in a dozen times. Your parent's things go in the main compartment. Your own things go in a separate small bag you can carry out with you when you leave for the night.

Anything you add that is not on this list, write on the list. The taped copy inside the lid is what gets everything home again.

• Paperwork — the one-page emergency sheet: medications, allergies, conditions, doctors, pharmacy, insurance numbers, next of kin
• Paperwork — a printed medication list copied from the labels, with the date you last updated it at the top
• Paperwork — photo ID and the insurance card, plus a photocopy of both kept in a separate pocket
• Paperwork — Medicare or plan numbers written on paper, not only saved in your phone
• Paperwork — a contact card: your number, your siblings' numbers, the doctor's office, the pharmacy
• Paperwork — copies of any advance directive or healthcare proxy that already exists. Bring the copy, keep the original at home
• Paperwork — the last discharge summary or the referral letter, if you have one
• Paperwork — a notebook and two pens for names, times and what you are told
• Paperwork — your printed questions, with a blank column beside each one for the answer
• For your parent — glasses, hearing aids and spare batteries, each in a labelled case
• For your parent — dentures and a labelled case
• For your parent — a robe and slippers with a back and a non-slip sole
• For your parent — two changes of loose clothing that fasten at the front
• For your parent — underwear, socks, and a plastic bag for laundry going home
• For your parent — toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap, deodorant, lip balm, hand cream, in travel sizes
• For your parent — any personal supplies they already use at home, in the brand they are used to
• For your parent — phone, charger, and the longest charging cable you own. Sockets are rarely near the bed
• For your parent — a cheap watch or a small clock, because the ward clock is often out of view
• For your parent — something to do: large-print puzzles, a paperback, headphones, two photographs
• For your parent — a permanent marker and sticky labels, so you can name anything that arrives later
• For your parent — the medications in their original boxes only if the ward asks for them. Call and ask before you pack them
• For your parent — a few dollars in coins for the trolley or the vending machine
• For you — your own charger, a bottle of water and something to eat
• For you — a folder or a large envelope for every piece of paper anyone hands you
• For you — the parking ticket and a note of the level and row where you parked
• For you — your own ID, in case you are asked to confirm who you are
• For you — photographs of every medication label on your phone, as a backup for the printed list
• For you — a written list of who to call and in what order, so you are not making that decision in a corridor

What to leave at home

A hospital bag is a bag that will be left unattended on a chair. Pack it on that assumption.

Leave jewellery, watches with any value, and anything that cannot be replaced. Leave credit cards and anything more than a small amount of cash. Leave the original of every document — the copy is what gets handed over, and the copy is the one that goes missing.

Leave the only set of house keys at home with someone you can reach, and write down who has a set. If nobody else has one, that is the first job for tomorrow.

Do not pack anything that is the only one of its kind, unless it is essential. Hearing aids and glasses are the exception, and that is exactly why they get labelled and written on the list inside the lid.

If a valuable arrives anyway, ask the ward what they do with valuables and write down the name of the person who took it and the date.

Questions