Hospital discharge checklist
Questions about discharge readiness, medication changes, rehab/SNF transfer, home care, warning signs, and follow-up ownership.
Open checklistFamily resources
Questions that make the next care conversation clearer.
Use these guides to organize discharge, ICU, rehab/SNF, medication, and goals-of-care questions before speaking with the treating team.
Not emergency care. These resources are educational and do not replace the treating team. For urgent symptoms, rapid deterioration, or same-day clinical concerns, contact 911, the treating clinician, the facility nurse/clinician, or the emergency department.
Start with the situation in front of you
Understand a discharge summary
How to read the main sections of discharge paperwork and identify what changed during the hospital stay.
Read guideICU family meeting questions
Questions about what happened, what remains active, best-case/worst-case paths, and upcoming decisions.
Read guideGoals-of-care meeting prep
A framework for prognosis, code status, hospice, comfort-focused care, and serious decision conversations.
Read guideQuestions before discharge
Clarify readiness, home safety, follow-up, medications, equipment, services, and what should trigger a call.
Read guideWhat is code status?
Plain-English explanation of full code, DNR, DNI, comfort-focused care, and what families should ask.
Read guideQuestions before SNF transfer
What to ask before hospital-to-SNF or rehab transfer, including therapy goals, medical handoff, and care-plan updates.
Read guideMedication changes after hospitalization
How to think about new, stopped, temporary, dose-adjusted, and high-risk medications after a hospital stay.
Read guideHow BridgeCare uses resources
- Start with the guide that matches the immediate situation.
- Write questions in broad, non-identifying language.
- Do not send medical records, patient names, dates of birth, facility names, exact dates, photos, or detailed clinical facts by ordinary email.
- If the situation is non-urgent and still unclear, use the fit-screen path before any records are reviewed.
When a guide is not enough
A guide can help organize questions. A BridgeCare advisory visit is for families who need physician-led interpretation, preparation, navigation, and family decision support after serious illness.