What type of information do you track for in-home care?

When I had caregivers for my Husband I would have them note any BM that he had, loose or constipated.
If he ate his full lunch.
How much he slept.
Once he went on Hospice I was more detailed in the notes I kept. the simple reason is that documenting declines is important. So if he went from sleeping 8 hours to sleeping 10 hours that was important for Hospice to know. If he went from eating a full meal to only eating half, that was important. Needing help with eating when he did not need help the week before.
But if this is just for your information you do not need to keep such detailed info.
When starting a new medication or a new dose it is good to keep notes in case there is a change in personality, a change in sleeping or eating patterns.

On the other hand....a year from now if you look back on the notes you have taken it will give you a picture of what things were like and how much has changed. If you think you are having a "bad day" now and you document your bad day in a year I bet that "bad day" won't look so bad.
Documenting your days and the changes is another form of "journaling" or back in the "olden days" some kept a diary.
Along with "facts" feel free to put in your personal notes, feelings. If the medical staff is not interested in the day to day things UNLESS there is a significant change and if there were to be such a change I am sure you would not wait to report it you would contact the office or send a message through the "patient portal". they do not need to read the daily journal you keep .

Keep data that you think is useful for you, but summarize changes for the doctor. Also, if your mother resists all the tests, perhaps you can cut back for her comfort. Consider cutting back the blood pressure checks to once a day (at the same time). Mostly you want to note changes. Do you take action based on the data? For example, do you notice that some foods raise her blood sugar, and that may be an indication to cut back on those foods? All the best to you and your mother.

The only thing that I write down on my calendar is a fall, but she doesn't fall very often, and I would forget the date. (Her last fall was September 17)

I do mentally track her BMs and if she has one when I'm out, the sitter will always tell me. When she hasn't had a BM for 2 days, I will give her Milk of Magnesia before bed and the next day she'll have a BM.

Anything that her palliative nurse or her physical therapist need to know, I'm able to tell them from memory.

The caregivers and I track certain values every day in a notebook. It’s been very useful. We flip back the pages and can easily compare if a value is unusual for my elderly uncle.

We know which values are normal FOR HIM. He has low BP, but that’s all right FOR HIM. We also know what’s too low, even for him.

Here’s what we track every morning:
-BP
-heart rate
-temperature
-urine quantity, color, clean or murky

And morning/lunch/dinner:
-bowel movement or not

We know a lot about his health by tracking this, and reacting accordingly.

Sorry, answered rather than replying to Poodledoodle, I entered the answer section and I can't leave it blank. SMH...

Good Morning,

I have my mother get on the scale each morning "after" she goes to the bathroom. Then I record it on a monthly calendar. I was told the rule is anything more or less of a 3-lb. change contact the primary care doctor.

Next, I take my mother's temperature and record that as well. I log in all morning and evening medications on a calendar--one for morning, one for nighttime.

On several occasions when mother went out in the rescue I have a prescription list on the refrigerator and also one in my pocketbook that I bring, so I am always prepared.

At the top of this list I have her name/birthdate and also wrote that patient wears hearing aids, is on a blood thinner and has Lewy Body Dementia.

These things are important because oftentimes if a patient doesn't have their hearing aids they cannot respond correctly.

Basically, the doctors flip up their laptop and scan the numbers--it's up to you to go prepared with your "wish list". You have about 8-minutes to tell your story in the office.

They want to know if the patient is thriving or declining. You have to be the one to ask for services. The doctors don't know the patients the way you think they do.

Stay focused and you need to have a "paper trail" (a/k/a referrals) for any type of services. A relationship with a good primary care doctor and if you can find one in your area a Geriatrician, which are far and few between. Check out ALL doctors on your local State Medical Board.

Don't let them torture your mother with a million blood draws. Try to limit them so that they are NOT repeatedly doing a draw. You sound like someone who is conscientious and you will learn along the way. You sound quite capable. Your mother is fortunate to have you.

I created a daily chart and printed copies to make this task easier. We also added notes about weight, once a week.
Temperature and very important notes about bowel movements whether they were normal and consistent.
Time spent outside in the sun.

At one time mom's primary wanted to follow her liquid intake due to dehydration.

I kept an updated list like Ireland below of mom's current prescriptions, family/ physician contacts and her medical history. A copy was in her wallet & one on the fridge & one for rescue when she went.

Mom had several different sitters and included myself & my sister. It was so helpful to see what occurred prior to our shifts.

We were lucky to have a doctor that did appreciate the daily notes.

My mom has 2 caregivers so I do have a checklist for them to record everything since I’m at work most of the day. When she first got sick, nothing was written down or tracked. After episodes of dehydration, we started charting everything. No, her doctor and hospice nurse doesn’t even glance at it, but I thoroughly read it at the end of her caregivers’ day and ask questions. I especially follow whether there’s a trend of some sort. We keep track of everything, from BM frequently to moods and since COVID started, even visitors entering my home.

Your personal tracking notes are actually more for yourself unless the physician or other health care provider has specifically requested you provide the information. It is not a bad thing to do, but there will be some who do not see it's value, so don't be offended.

Is it perhaps time to have your mother assessed for care needs in home and/ or facility placement or perhaps even hospice/ palliative care? It is not clear how declined her physical status is, but it never hurts to inquire with agencies such as home care or hospice to have them explain their services. This might take some of the pressure off of you to be " tracking data" on your mother.

Or perhaps you all just need to focus on quality of life for all, enjoy the days , and not worry about the record keeping....

Practice good self care for yourself!!!

Yes it is important...I don't know how to say this... It's important to determine when something started, looking for trends... Once something out of normal range for her, with no history no knowledge of how or when it started.... Something I have regret, but a stubborn father that won't cooperate... He got septic.. his temperature was either high or low I suspect low before it got serious.. he did not recognize he was serious ill. If he was checking temperature it would have been treated before became so serious. Docs have lots to read they r trained to quickly skim thru numbers to find out of range enough needing action .. then look at past data for trends... Might be something that has slowly been going down for months until it got to a needs attention then they will look at rest of notes for what is might be causing it... Might be sideaffect of a prescribed med. .I address only ur disappointment at only glancing at data.. might want to only give summary out of normal data . All #,#,#, have been monitored and recorded dailey/weekly and have been within normal values since our last visit...they may then request the history for something that a med might cause...be of importance when a med sideaffect outweigh importance of what the med treats...If u don't collect and save these numbers u will want to kick urself for not having them if something happens.
I advise our write ur summary out as docs have a limited amount of time with patients... Doc can read faster then listen. .that way the limited amount of time can be used for more important questions