Anyone who has experienced being a caregiver knows that there are a lot of things to remember. Including anything from medication to the care staff that is coming to the home to help. It can be challenging to remember everything. We have identified some tools that can help you keep everything organized. You can find caregiving binders all over the web, but these are the ones that we found were the easiest to use. Plus, two of them are free to download and print!
Let’s start off by describing what a caregiver binder is. These binders are tools to help caregivers keep track of all sorts of information. You can record and document important information regarding your loved one’s care. Many of the notebooks we looked at had sections for medication management, appointments, and legal documents. Therefore, having a binder or notebook with easy access to all this information is great in case of an emergency, or if the primary caregiver cannot attend an appointment.
Now for the good stuff, the actual notebooks!
“Springwell’s Caregiver’s Notebook gives you a central place to record and document the important aspects of your loved one’s care.” This notebook is broken out into 5 sections.
Section 1: At a Glance is used for all the contact information for family, physicians, and home health agencies.
Section 2: Care Providers provides detail about the people that are in your caregiving team, things about the person you care for, and a daily activity log.
Section 3: Medical provides detailed information about medications, doctors appointments, and what tests they may have had with the results.
Section 4: Call Log/Visit Notes helps you keep track of all the phone calls you have made and received regarding your loved one’s care. You can also use the sheets to record what is said at a doctor’s appointment.
Section 5: legal, financial, and end of life Keep track of important documents and information related to legal and finance matters. You can also keep end of life instructions if it is applicable to your situation.
This notebook is free to download by clicking on the title.
This Family Caregiver’s Planner provides a space for you to document all the critical information about your loved one. They have provided a space for you to document contact information about the home health agency. Sometimes your loved one needs medical supplies from outside sources like NORCO. A page in this planner has space for you to list information about these supplies. One piece of this planner that we like a lot is the weekly care schedule. Making it easy for everyone, including your loved one, to see the care plan for the week. You can check out this planner by clicking on the title of this section. As a bonus, this planner also comes in Spanish, Chinese, and Russian!
Purchasing Notebooks/planners
If neither of the two above spark your interest there are several other paid options for caregiving planners.
There are a few e-commerce shops on Etsy that have printable caregiver planners.