Caregiver handover notes: what the next person needs to know
When a sibling covers a weekend or a carer takes the night shift, the handover is where details get lost: a medicine that moved to the evening, a question waiting on a callback, the fact that Mum will not eat breakfast before nine. Good handover notes are one page, written the same way every time.
What to cover
- The routine: wake, meals, medicines by time, rest, bed. Just the shape of the day.
- Medicines: what is due during the handover, as the list says, and what was last given and when.
- What is open: a pharmacy callback, a referral letter expected, a task half done.
- What to watch for, in plain words, and what the doctor said to do if it happens.
- Who to call, for what, with numbers.
- The little things that make the day go smoothly, which only the regular person knows.
Keep it short
- One page. If it is longer, the important lines get skipped.
- Same headings every time, so the reader knows where to look.
- Date it and sign it, so the next handover can start from it.
At the end of the shift
- Write what happened under the same headings: doses given, anything new, anything missed.
- Hand the page back, or photograph it for the person who keeps the binder.
How Alderbook does it
Alderbook keeps the pieces a handover is made of: the medication table, the next appointment and its questions, the task list grouped by sibling with overdue items on top, and contacts by role. Share the care summary or the task list as a PDF for the person taking over. The web version keeps its data in one browser on one device, so one person usually keeps the record and the others work from what they share.
Alderbook stores what you enter. It gives no medical or legal advice.
Price: Free for one person and 10 documents. $49.99 once for everything else.
Printable handover notes
Print it with your browser (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P); only the template prints. Or keep it in Alderbook, which fills it in for you.
Person: ______________________________
Handing over from: ______________________________
To: ______________________________
Date and time: ______________________________
Routine today
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Medicines due during this handover, as the list says
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Last doses given, and when
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Open items
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
What to watch for, and what the doctor said to do
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Who to call
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
The little things
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Filled in: an example
Fictional people and entries, to show the level of detail that helps.
Person: Margaret Ellis
Handing over from: Priya
To: Tom
Date and time: Sat 12 Sep, 9:00 am
Routine today
Up by 8, breakfast after 9 or she will not eat. Rest after lunch. Bed around 10.
Medicines due during this handover, as the list says
Morning tablets with breakfast; evening metformin with dinner. The list on the fridge is current.
Last doses given, and when
Morning tablets at 9:20 am today.
Open items
Pharmacy to call back about blister packs. Eye clinic letter expected this week.
What to watch for, and what the doctor said to do
Dizziness on standing; Dr Osei said to note the time and mention it at Tuesday's visit.
Who to call
Dr Osei 555-0142. Pharmacy 555-0170. Priya 555-0103.
The little things
Hearing aid in the left ear, talk from her right. Likes the radio on at lunch.
Alderbook stores what you enter and gives it back in a useful shape. It gives no medical or legal advice, calculates nothing about medication, and does not store passwords or account logins.