Moving an aging parent back home from institutional care is complicated and stressful. For a successful transition, families need a better way to understand the scope, moving parts, and planning steps. This integrative big picture allows them to assess their current resources to determine if they are adequate for the task or need bolstering. As important, it facilitates a conversation that offers adult children insight into their parent’s point of view regarding their situation as well as their motivation for protecting their health. This is why we created the Transitional Care Mind Map.
The Transitional Care Mind Map offers families a one page diagram of the transition process (click here for PDF version of mind map). Once completed, it helps families in four ways:
It reduces the burden and risks of not knowing the big picture. The Transitional Care Mind Map provides everyone involved with the care of the aging parent with an overview of what has to happen. Many times this information is fuzzy, incomplete or only known by a few.
It reduces the burden of caregiving handoffs. The Transitional Care Mind Map offers a quick reference guide for other family members who want to lend a hand with gathering information, transportation, or other tasks. It is especially helpful for coordinating last minute change of plans.
It reduces the burden of integrating transition information. The Transitional Care Mind Map serves as an information hub for organizing and sharing transition updates for the family and other participants on the caregiving team.
It reduces the burden of orchestrating a transition crisis. The Transitional Care Mind Map becomes an invaluable resource for coordinating a response to breakdown in the transition process.
How to use the Transitional Care Mind Map
Set up a map for an aging parent and verify the pre and post transition information. Provide copies to other family members and ask for comments and revisions.
Use in conjunction with the Medication Census Mind Map.
Provide a copy of the completed Transitional Care Mind Map and Medication Census Mind Map to aging parent’s primary care physician.
Once the transition is completed, annotate a copy of the completed map with two short lists: what worked and what needs improvement. These insights will help improve the next transition event.