Sharing wound care responsibilities with family.

Start with what the patient wants

Sharing wound care responsibilities with family starts with the person who has the wound. As long as they can make their own choices, they decide who helps, who hears updates and who speaks with the care team.

Ask before you organize. Some people welcome a daughter at every visit but do not want other relatives reading their records. Write down what they agree to. The guide on who can receive wound care updates explains how permission usually works.

List the practical jobs

Put every job on paper before deciding who does what. A typical list includes:

• Keeping the calendar of wound visits and other appointments
• Arranging rides, or being home to let a visiting clinician in
• Tracking supply deliveries and noticing when items run low
• Attending visits, taking notes and passing questions to the care team
• Doing the tasks the clinician has taught a family member to do
• Handling insurance mail, forms and phone calls
• Watching for changes the clinician asked the family to report

Some jobs need a person in the room. Others, such as the calendar, the insurance calls or the supply tracking, can be done from another city. See helping a parent with a wound from far away for more on that role.

Give each job a main person and a backup

A job with no name next to it tends to be done twice or not at all. For each job, agree on one main person and one backup. The backup needs the phone numbers, the schedule and the location of the supplies to step in on short notice.

Be honest about what each person can keep doing for months. Some wounds take a long time.

Choose one person as the main contact for the care team, and tell the team who the backup is. Messages get through more reliably when the team has one usual number to call.

Keep one current record

Pick one place for current information and make sure every authorized helper can get to it. A binder on the kitchen counter works, and a shared family care log is one way to set it up. Keep these items in it:

• The treating clinician’s latest written instructions, with the date
• Phone numbers for the care team, the supplier and any agency involved
• The appointment calendar and a current medication list
• A running list of questions for the next visit

When instructions change, replace the old page. If two versions sit side by side, a dressing can be changed on the wrong day or the wrong product can be used.

Hand off clearly

Each time responsibility passes from one helper to another, leave a short note:

1. What was done, and when
2. What is still pending, such as a callback or a delivery
3. Which questions have already been sent to the care team, and to whom

Add anything the next person should watch, in plain words. For example: “Drainage came through the dressing by evening. I called the nurse line at 6 and left a message.” The next helper then knows a call is already in progress.

If a family group text is your main tool, keep health details out of it and put the full note in the shared record.

Be honest about limits

A helper should do only the hands-on tasks the clinician has shown them. If a task is beyond someone’s training, comfort, time or physical strength, tell the treating clinician and ask what the options are.

Saying “I cannot do this part” is useful information for the care team. If you are getting worn down, read our guide on caregiver burnout and asking for help.

Any helper who sees a worrying change should report it to the treating clinician without waiting for the main contact. For an emergency, call 911.

When family members remember things differently

Two people can leave the same visit with two versions of the instructions. Do not settle it by vote or blend the versions into a new plan. Call the treating team and write the answer in the shared record with the date.

It helps to have one person take notes at each visit and read the key points back to the clinician before leaving. The guide to including a family member in your wound care explains how to arrange for a relative to be present.

Gateway coordinates scheduling, records, supplies and communication for wound care delivered by partner clinicians across Greater St. Louis and the Metro East. To ask about arranging care, call 314-325-0126 or send a request for care.

Common questions

Related pages

• Keeping a shared family care log
• Who can receive wound care updates
• Including a family member
• Caregiver burnout and asking for help
• For families & caregivers
• Skin graft aftercare guide
• Talking about wound pain
• Leg ulcer compression questions