Knowledge Hub · v1.0

Scannable. Bedside-ready.

The thresholds and procedures every caregiver looks up at 03:00. Open the cards. Glance, act, document.

Medical terminology cards

Vitals

Systolic vs Diastolic BP

Normal: < 120 / < 80
Elevated: 120–129 / < 80
Stage 1 HTN: 130–139 / 80–89
Stage 2 HTN: ≥ 140 / ≥ 90 — escalate
Hypotensive: < 90 / < 60 — escalate

Vitals

SpO₂ — Oxygen Saturation

Healthy adult room air: 95–100%
Acceptable on chronic O₂: 92–95%
Mild hypoxia: 90–92% — recheck position, probe
Severe hypoxia: < 90% — escalate now
Re-probe if reading drops > 4% suddenly

Vitals

Heart Rate (HR)

Adult resting: 60–100 bpm
Bradycardia: < 60 bpm (athletes excepted)
Tachycardia: > 100 bpm at rest
Document rhythm: regular vs irregular
Sustained > 120 or < 50 → escalate

Vitals

Temperature Thresholds

Normal core: 36.1 – 37.2 °C
Low-grade fever: 37.3 – 38.0 °C
Fever: > 38.0 °C — antipyretic per PRN
Hyperpyrexia: > 39.4 °C — escalate
Hypothermia: < 35.0 °C — warm + escalate

Procedure

PEG-tube Feed Logging

Confirm tube placement before each feed
Log feed rate (mL/hr) and total volume
Check residual gastric volume q4h
Flush 30 mL warm water pre/post feed + meds
Hold feed if residual > 200 mL — escalate

Procedure

Blood Glucose (BGL)

Fasting normal: 70–100 mg/dL (3.9–5.5 mmol/L)
Pre-meal target (diabetic): 80–130 mg/dL
Post-prandial: < 180 mg/dL at 2 hr
Hypoglycemia: < 70 mg/dL — give 15g rapid carbs
Severe: < 54 mg/dL or AMS → escalate immediately

Clinical best practices

Safe Patient Repositioning Protocols

Immobile and bed-bound patients accumulate tissue ischemia within 90 minutes of unrelieved pressure. A disciplined Q2H repositioning cadence — paired with correct tilt geometry and shear-protecting transfer technique — is the single highest-leverage intervention a bedside caregiver can deliver to prevent stage 2+ pressure injuries during a 12-hour shift.

Reposition every 2 hours minimum (Q2H), even during sleep cycles
Use 30° lateral tilt with pillow wedge — avoid full 90° side-lying (trochanter pressure)
Use slide sheets or draw sheets — never drag the patient (shear injury)
Float heels fully off the mattress with a pillow under the calves
Inspect pressure points at every turn: sacrum, heels, elbows, occiput, ears
Document each position change with timestamp in the shift ledger
Two-person assist for any patient > 80 kg or with spinal precautions

Pressure-Area Screening (Braden + Visual)

Pressure-injury staging is time-critical: a stage 1 lesion caught at hour 3 reverses within a shift, while the same lesion missed until hour 10 progresses to stage 2 and triggers an incident report. Combine the Braden score at admission with a structured visual inspection at every turn — both are non-negotiable in private duty.

Run the Braden Scale on admission and weekly (or after any acuity change)
Inspect at every turn: sacrum, heels, elbows, occiput, scapulae, ears
Look for non-blanching erythema — press the area, release, watch for return
Stage 1: non-blanching redness — offload immediately and document
Stage 2+: open / blistered → photograph, measure (cm), escalate to charge
Apply barrier cream on any moisture-exposed skin (incontinence, perspiration)
Never massage a reddened area — it deepens the tissue injury

Complex Shift Rotation & Continuity

Multi-caregiver 24/7 coverage collapses without disciplined hand-off geometry. Fatigue, missed escalations, and lost clinical detail accumulate at every shift boundary. A resilient rotation pairs structured overlap windows with a sealed, sharable shift ledger so the next caregiver inherits situational awareness — not a void.

Build a minimum 15-minute overlap window between consecutive shifts
Cap consecutive 12-hour shifts at 3 per caregiver per week (fatigue ceiling)
Use the MeadyCare hand-off PDF as the single source of truth — not WhatsApp voice notes
Verbal hand-off must cover: trend, pending tasks, escalation thresholds, family preferences
Confirm tube placement, IV patency, and last med time before signing on
Seal the outgoing shift ledger only after the incoming caregiver acknowledges
Document any rota deviation (call-out, sick swap) in the agency ledger same-day

Preventing Task & Medication Omission

Omission errors — a missed dose, a skipped reposition, a forgotten BGL — are the leading preventable adverse event in private-duty home care. They cluster in hours 9–11 of a 12-hour shift when caregiver vigilance dips. Defense-in-depth means redundant alarms, sealed ledgers, and the Five Rights muscle memory applied to every single tap.

Trust the looping sonic alarm — it survives device lock and backgrounding
Apply the Five Rights at every med pass: patient, drug, dose, route, time
Acknowledge each task in-app within the ±30 min window — late = log late, never backdate
Use the shift-end audit screen before clocking out — it surfaces unacknowledged tasks
Photograph the med pre-administration when policy requires double-check
If a task slips past its window: document, notify charge, do not falsify time
Take the scheduled micro-break in hour 6 — omission risk drops measurably after it

Fall-Risk Hygiene

Falls in the home setting carry a 30-day mortality multiplier in the elderly. A disciplined per-shift fall-risk re-stage — paired with environmental controls (bed height, lighting, call bell reach) — converts a probabilistic hazard into a managed one.

Re-stage fall risk on admission and at the start of every shift
Bed in lowest position, brakes locked, side rails per care plan
Verify the call bell is within arm's reach at every round
Non-slip footwear (or non-slip socks) before any transfer, including bathroom
Two-person assist if Morse Fall Score ≥ 45 or recent post-op
Night-light or motion-sensor lighting on the path to the bathroom
Document every transfer with time, route, and assist level

Medication Five-Rights

The Five Rights are the universal pre-administration safety check that converts a routine med pass into a clinically auditable event. Skipping any one of them is the modal pathway to a preventable medication error — and they take less than 20 seconds when made into muscle memory.

Right patient — verify two identifiers (name + DOB or MR#)
Right drug — match generic name AND brand name on the label
Right dose — recalculate weight-based or titrated doses each pass
Right route — PO, IM, SC, IV, PEG, SL, PR — confirm against order
Right time — within the ±30 minute window; document if outside
Bonus: Right reason and right documentation, completed before leaving the bedside

Reference content for educational use. Always defer to your local protocols and licensed clinical judgment.

Knowledge Hub FAQ

Clinical credibility, in plain English.

No. The cards are bedside-ready quick references co-written with active caregivers. Always defer to your facility's protocols and your own licensed clinical judgment. Use these as a scannable refresher, not a primary source.

Yes. Every Clinical Best Practice card has a 'Download MeadyCare PDF Guide' button in the top right. It opens a clean, dark-mode formatted PDF print sheet with MeadyCare branding — works on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows.

We refresh content quarterly against current AHA, NICE, and WHO bedside guidance. Active caregivers on our team review every edit before it ships.

Yes — the PDFs are free to redistribute internally. For co-branded or white-labeled clinical libraries, talk to us on the Contact page.