Example spreadsheets used for in-home nursing

When Kai qualified for in-home nursing care I was so excited. It was such a relief to finally have the help we needed. Kai received 16 hours of nursing care, and the other 8 were up to us. This created quite a mess when figuring out who was going to take care of what. To help bridge the gaps, I created spreadsheets the nurses and I could use to track Kai's care. The nurses completed daily charts through the nursing agency but I was not allowed to use them for my shift. Also, their charts didn't include any details on his therapies or equipment cleaning. On a few occasions I found that things weren't getting done because one shift nurse thought another one was doing it. I also found myself repeating work because I didn't know whether it had been done or not.

I was planning on returning to work, so I needed a tool to help keep track of what needed to be done when and also to help all of Kai's caregivers communicate with each other. I needed a system that would allow me to take a quick look back and see how Kai was doing while I was gone. By creating my own charts, I could accomplish just that.

I tried to keep it as simple as I could for the nurses, keeping in mind that they would be double charting. Unfortunately, I can't attach documents onto my posts so I am attaching pictures of them instead.

Anyone can personalize these forms so that they work for you. They are easy to create on your own as well.


Daily Schedule

 The form I found most helpful was Kai's daily Schedule.

I shaded in the hours that each task, listed on the left, should be done. I asked that the nurses and I initial in the shaded box when the task was completed or annotate a measurement if necessary (for example; oxygen level, secretion description, heart rate, etc). My chart had the following tasks listed on the left:

• Secretion description
• # of wet diapers per shift
• # of poopy diapers per shift
• position change (please indicate R(right side), L(left side) or B(back)
• Temperature
• Heart Rate
• Respiratory Rate
• O2 sat
• sat probe change
• hold feeds
• change feed bags
• flush J-tube 10ml
• oral care
• cough assist
• vent check
• oxygen tank level
• water level in vent bag
• stretching
• activity (Please indicate: H (holding), C (chair), S (stander))
• bath time
• trach care
• change bedding
• cuff check
• nap time
• clean extensions
• weekly cleaning assignment
• medication given

One thing I really liked about this sheet is that I could get more information about his daily care and activity than I could get from typical medical charting. I could make sure Kai was getting out of his bed for parts of each day and was getting stretched. That was important to me. Whatever your focus might be, you can add this into the daily schedule and indicate how often you would like it done. I kept a week's worth of spreadsheets on a clip board and the nurses all loved it. It gave them plenty of direction and they followed it religiously.


I also created a few additional spreadsheets that helped us stay organized and on top of things.


Medication Schedule

This form came in handy because Kai had a GJ feeding tube. Some of his medications were administered through his G tube and some through his J. To keep everything straight, I created this form and kept it on top of the rest for easy reference. Believe me, I had to refer to this many times myself.  I simply put the times along the left hand side and made columns for G tube, J tube and RK (Respiratory treatments) and filled in which medications were given in which tube or treatment at the corresponding time.



Supplies Needed

This is a form I created so that when supplies ran low I could get them reordered in time. We could write supplies down as we noticed they were getting low and when it came time to order my monthly supplies I could just grab this form to make sure I didn't miss anything. It has just three columns: Date, Description, and Number remaining. Nothing fancy here... but it did the job perfectly.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

This form was very important to me as well. It spread all the cleaning duties out over a week to balance out the tasks. Then I would add a task on the daily schedule to complete that day's cleaning duty. I labeled the days across the top of the columns and indicated the tasks underneath. Example: Disinfect syringes, Clean canister used for suction rinse, wipe down all equipment. Then I could add notes on the bottom for daily and monthly tasks. Example of daily tasks: replace sleeved catheters. Monthly example: replace vent filters and suction canisters.

These sheets are easy to make yourself maybe I just gave you idea's on how to create your own! Please feel free to email me if you would like me to send you a template for one of the forms above: helpingkaiplay@hotmail.com