What to Pack When a Parent Goes Into Hospital

Pack Two Bags, Not One

The mistake is one large bag, packed on the way out the door. It never holds what you need, and it is too heavy to carry back through a parking garage at midnight.

Pack two.

The go-bag stays packed permanently, in the hall closet or the trunk of your car. Documents, chargers, one change of clothes, and the small things that cannot be bought at 2am. You never unpack it after a stay. You restock it.

The stay bag comes on day two, once you know roughly how long this will be. Slippers, more clothes, the large-print book, hearing aid batteries, the specific pillow. Bringing it later means you carry less through admissions, and you have seen the room, so you know whether there is anywhere to put things.

If your parent lives alone, keep the go-bag at their house and a duplicate document folder at yours. If two of you share the driving, decide now who owns the bag and write that name on the luggage tag, with a phone number. The person who arrives first should not have to guess where it is.

The Document Folder: What Goes In It

This is the part of the bag that matters most, and the part people forget. Use a single plastic wallet with a zip, not a loose stack. Keep the originals of anything irreplaceable at home and carry clear copies.

The folder does one job: it lets you answer questions at a desk without phoning three people. Assemble it once, on a quiet evening, and refresh the medication list each time it changes.

One note on the paperwork your parent may already have completed about their wishes. An attorney drafts those documents; you are only carrying copies and knowing who holds the original. If nothing exists, that is a conversation for a different day, not for the admissions desk.

• Photo ID, plus a photocopy of the front and back
• Insurance cards, Medicare card, and the pharmacy benefit card if it is separate
• A printed medication list with today's date at the top
• Pharmacy name, address and phone number
• A one-page contact sheet: primary care physician, each specialist, next of kin, and you
• Copies of any advance paperwork your parent has already completed, and the name of the person who holds the original
• A printed list of past surgeries and hospital stays with approximate years
• A note of who to call if you cannot be reached, and when they are usually awake

Clothing and Comfort: The Actual List

Three days of clothing, no more. You will restock rather than over-pack, and everything you bring is something you will later have to carry home. Use a soft bag that squashes into a small locker, not a hard case.

Everything on this list has one thing in common: it is either impossible to replace on site or annoying enough to be worth the space. Skip the rest.

• Two sets of loose, front-opening pajamas
• Non-slip socks, or slippers with a back to them
• A zip-front cardigan; rooms run cold at night
• Underwear for three days, in a labeled bag
• Glasses, in a case with the name on it
• Hearing aids, spare batteries, and the storage case
• Dentures and the container, both labeled
• Phone, charger, and a 10-foot cable — bedside outlets are never where you want them
• A small clock or a cheap watch
• Lip balm, unscented lotion, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste
• Earplugs and an eye mask
• One large-print book or magazine
• A photo of home or the family for the bedside table
• A pen, and a small notebook you leave in the room

Label Everything, and Write the Inventory

Glasses, hearing aids and dentures are the three items that go missing, and they go missing when a bed is moved between units at four in the morning. Label them before you leave the house.

Masking tape and a permanent marker is enough. Surname and first initial on the case, not the full address. Do the same on the bag, the cardigan label, the phone charger and the book.

Then write the inventory. One sheet, kept in the document folder, with these columns:

Item | Description | Brought by | Date in | Date out | Initials

Fill it in as you unpack in the room. Before you close the bag at home, lay the contents out on the bed and take one photograph. That photo has settled more disputes than any list.

If the hospital offers to log valuables formally, say yes and keep the receipt in the folder. If something goes home with a sibling, write it on the inventory with their name and the date. The point is not suspicion. The point is that four people will handle this bag and none of them will have met each other.

What to Leave at Home

A hospital room has one small locker and a great deal of traffic. Everything valuable that goes in is something you have to think about.

On medication from home: most hospitals ask you not to bring bottles in. Ask the admitting nurse what they want you to do with them before you carry anything through the door. Bring the printed list either way — the list is what people actually need.

• Jewelry, other than a wedding ring, and even then write down the decision
• More than about $20 in cash
• Credit cards beyond one, and the checkbook
• House keys beyond a single spare
• Expensive headphones or a tablet you would mind losing
• The good coat
• Anything with a sentimental value you could not replace
• Medication bottles, unless the admitting nurse asks you to bring them

The Note You Tape to the Outside

One page, in a clear sleeve, taped to the outside of the bag. It exists so that a person who has never met you can act without phoning around.

Write it in large print. Fill in these lines:

This bag belongs to: full name, preferred name, date of birth
Room / unit: (pencil, it changes)
Main contact: your name, relationship, mobile, and the words call me first
Second contact: name and number
Primary care physician: name, practice, phone
Pharmacy: name and phone
Communication notes: wears hearing aids, please face them when speaking; reads large print only; first language is Spanish
Mobility notes: uses a walker indoors, cannot manage stairs
If this bag is moved, please call: number

That is the whole page. Nothing clinical belongs on it — a nurse has the record for that. This sheet is for the practical facts that otherwise get repeated eleven times by an exhausted family member in a corridor. Print three copies. One on the bag, one in the folder, one in your own bag.

Keep the Bag Packed

The go-bag only works if it is ready before you need it, which means the restock is the habit, not the packing.

Within 48 hours of coming home, do this in ten minutes:

• Reprint the medication list with the new date and swap it in
• Replace anything used up: toothpaste, lotion, batteries
• Recharge the battery pack and coil the long cable back in
• Wash and return the clothes to the bag, three days' worth
• Update the taped note if any contact has changed
• Write the restock date on the luggage tag in pen
• Put the bag back in the same place, and tell whoever else drives

Questions