DocumentationDocumentation….
That dreaded word. What do you do? Where do you start? What do you keep? What do you throw away? How do you keep track of appointments??? The questions keep going, and going. Here is what I have started to do. I will update here as I add things to my system. There will be links to most of the items I personally use so can easily find them if they interest you by clicking on the pictures. For me – keeping appointments accurate is the biggest thing. So calendars are always on my mind. I use 4 total to keep things straight, which may seem like a lot, but it will make sense. Please stick with me until the end and you will see First I use a simple 12 month wall calendar. Second I use a weekly magnetic dry erase fridge calendar and colored dry erase markers
Third I use a small pocket yearly calendar
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Fourth I use a small yearly/weekly calendar
Now for the "Fun" part of it - The How and Why I do things the way I do them.
The first calendar, which is the large wall calendar is used to record all the family things that are happening. This is everything from sports practice, games, dr. appointments, days off, etc. Use a code for each person to keep the calendar cleaner. We use the first letter of our name because there are no repeats, but if you have repeats just use numbers, letters, or a color dot (see below). This is deemed the Master calendar, but is not looked at on a continuous basis. (keeping this calendar in an out of the way in plain site area has helped decrease my stress and anxiety about what is going to happen in the future.)
The second calendar is on the fridge and is color coded. Each member of the family is given a color that way you can take out a bunch of writing. Only the things happening that week go on the calendar. This is an easy to look at simple calendar to reduce stress, but let you know what is going on. I update this calendar every Sunday.
The third calendar is My calendar. This has ALL the items from the master calendar on it as well as personal dates I need to remember. This calendar needs to be kept up to date, because this will go with to all Dr. appointments so you can schedule them right then and there, know that (at that Minute) you won’t need to call and reschedule, and will know how many kiddos you will or will not have (No schools days are marked down ). Tuck you appointment cards, receipts, ect into the day you are Currently on and mark everything down when you get home so you can do it and forget it
Onto the final calendar. This one – depending on your family size will vary in quantity. I would recommend having one per medically complex person in your family (or care)
I use the month section to write odd things (temp, change in stool, dr we saw etc). Keep it short – one to two word description & only the super important details. Next I put all the details onto the day in the calendar. This way when I go into appointments I can hand the calendar to the Dr, they can pick the days they want to look at futher detail for and there isn’t a question in my mind when something happened. Again – I know it happened, but I don’t want to stress about when it happened so – write it down and move on
Example of what I would do:
In the month area: Dr. ABC, pneumonia, antibiotics
On the actual day (week section): Dr. ABC chest xray confirmed Pneumonia, (name of antibiotic given) prescribed 2ml BID, 5pm 3ml Tylenol, 6pm vest & neb (2)
Remember the appointment cards you tucked into your calendar? Have you ever needed to get ahold of the dr office you are going to next week, but can’t find the number? I have one too many times, which lead me to this. Have a roll of tape, glue, staples, whatever your preference ready. tape, staple, etc ALL of your appointments cards, birthday cards, rehersal dates onto the month that event is happening. now you can “forget” about one more detail that you don’t need to know right at this minute.
Those receipts?
I use one of these as a start to the process. I have one spot per month, and this sits right by the front door with a pen right there. Anyone that has receipts, business cards, appointment cards, etc goes into the appropriate month. now some of the paper clutter is gone.
The first calendar, which is the large wall calendar is used to record all the family things that are happening. This is everything from sports practice, games, dr. appointments, days off, etc. Use a code for each person to keep the calendar cleaner. We use the first letter of our name because there are no repeats, but if you have repeats just use numbers, letters, or a color dot (see below). This is deemed the Master calendar, but is not looked at on a continuous basis. (keeping this calendar in an out of the way in plain site area has helped decrease my stress and anxiety about what is going to happen in the future.)
The second calendar is on the fridge and is color coded. Each member of the family is given a color that way you can take out a bunch of writing. Only the things happening that week go on the calendar. This is an easy to look at simple calendar to reduce stress, but let you know what is going on. I update this calendar every Sunday.
The third calendar is My calendar. This has ALL the items from the master calendar on it as well as personal dates I need to remember. This calendar needs to be kept up to date, because this will go with to all Dr. appointments so you can schedule them right then and there, know that (at that Minute) you won’t need to call and reschedule, and will know how many kiddos you will or will not have (No schools days are marked down ). Tuck you appointment cards, receipts, ect into the day you are Currently on and mark everything down when you get home so you can do it and forget it
Onto the final calendar. This one – depending on your family size will vary in quantity. I would recommend having one per medically complex person in your family (or care)
I use the month section to write odd things (temp, change in stool, dr we saw etc). Keep it short – one to two word description & only the super important details. Next I put all the details onto the day in the calendar. This way when I go into appointments I can hand the calendar to the Dr, they can pick the days they want to look at futher detail for and there isn’t a question in my mind when something happened. Again – I know it happened, but I don’t want to stress about when it happened so – write it down and move on
Example of what I would do:
In the month area: Dr. ABC, pneumonia, antibiotics
On the actual day (week section): Dr. ABC chest xray confirmed Pneumonia, (name of antibiotic given) prescribed 2ml BID, 5pm 3ml Tylenol, 6pm vest & neb (2)
Remember the appointment cards you tucked into your calendar? Have you ever needed to get ahold of the dr office you are going to next week, but can’t find the number? I have one too many times, which lead me to this. Have a roll of tape, glue, staples, whatever your preference ready. tape, staple, etc ALL of your appointments cards, birthday cards, rehersal dates onto the month that event is happening. now you can “forget” about one more detail that you don’t need to know right at this minute.
Those receipts?
I use one of these as a start to the process. I have one spot per month, and this sits right by the front door with a pen right there. Anyone that has receipts, business cards, appointment cards, etc goes into the appropriate month. now some of the paper clutter is gone.