An in-home assessment is not finished when someone has toured the house and taken notes. It is finished when you can read the resulting work plan, identify who approved it, and explain how the assigned caregiver will receive it.
This sheet covers the service process from the first scheduling call through the final written plan. Keep the assessment tied to the hiring decision described in Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring.
1. Ask what the assessment is supposed to produce
Before choosing an appointment time, ask: “What written document will we receive after this visit?”
Listen for a specific answer, such as a service plan, task list, schedule, home instructions, or assessment summary. Then ask whether you receive a copy and whether the caregiver sees the same document.
Write down:
Document name: ____________________
Who prepares it: ____________________
Who approves it: ____________________
Who gives it to the caregiver: ____________________
Walk away from the call without booking if the caller cannot identify any written output. A walkthrough that produces only private company notes gives you nothing usable to check against the first shift.
2. Identify the person coming to the house
Ask for the visitor’s name, role, employer, and callback number. Ask whether this person can decide what work the provider will accept or is only collecting information for someone else.
If another person makes the final decision, record that person too.
Visitor: ____________________
Decision-maker: ____________________
Decision-maker’s callback number: ____________________
Ask: “If the visitor says a task can be included, who can confirm that in writing?” Listen for one named role and one method of confirmation.
3. Send the real shift before the visit
Do not make the visitor reconstruct the job from conversation. Send a plain description of one expected shift: arrival time, departure time, rooms used, recurring tasks, known handoffs, and anything the caregiver must not do.
Use observable language. Replace “help in the morning” with the sequence you expect to happen. Replace “light housekeeping” with the rooms and items connected to the shift.
The site’s writing method explains why the sheet should name the next action and the record that proves it happened.
Write down the version you sent: ____________________
Person who received it: ____________________
4. Start the visit at the actual entrance
Meet the visitor where the caregiver will arrive. Run the entry process in order: parking location, correct door, doorbell or call instruction, entry permission, alarm instruction, and place for personal belongings.
Ask the visitor to record each step. Do not rely on “the caregiver will figure it out.”
Entry sequence: ____________________
Who may change it: ____________________
What happens if entry fails: ____________________
Stop the walkthrough if the proposed entry requires sharing a credential that the family has not agreed to provide. Resolve the access method before moving on.
5. Walk the work in the order it will happen
Move through the house in shift order, not room order. At each stop, name the action, the supplies, the stopping point, and the person to contact when the instruction does not fit the situation.
Ask four questions at every stop:
“Is this included in the service?”
“What exact instruction will the caregiver receive?”
“What would make the caregiver stop and call?”
“Where will completion or refusal be recorded?”
Write each answer beside the task. If the visitor substitutes a broad label for the action you described, ask for the label to be rewritten as observable work.
6. Mark every unresolved item before the visitor leaves
Do not let an open question disappear into general notes. Give each unresolved item an owner and a return path.
Open item: ____________________
Person responsible: ____________________
How the answer will arrive: ____________________
Where the answer will be added to the work plan: ____________________
Listen for a named person or role. “The office will handle it” is not enough to trace later.
7. Compare the written plan with the walkthrough
When the document arrives, read it beside your notes. Check the scheduled window, included tasks, excluded tasks, entry instructions, contact path, documentation method, and rules for changing the plan.
Circle any phrase that cannot be observed or checked. Send one written correction list rather than repairing the plan through separate calls.
Correction requested: ____________________
Sent to: ____________________
Corrected copy received: ____________________
Do not approve a plan that omits a task the provider said it would cover. Do not accept a verbal assurance that the caregiver will know what was discussed.
8. Test how the plan reaches the caregiver
Ask: “Show me the version the caregiver will use.” The answer might be a printed sheet, an office system, or another controlled record. You need to know whether it matches the copy you approved.
Then ask:
“When does the caregiver receive it?”
“Who confirms the caregiver reviewed it?”
“How is a correction delivered after the shift begins?”
“Which copy controls if the house copy and office copy disagree?”
Write down the controlling copy: ____________________
Person who maintains it: ____________________
A sign to stop is an answer that depends on the visitor personally remembering to brief the caregiver. The handoff should survive a change in office staff or assigned caregiver.
9. Close the assessment with a release decision
Before anyone is scheduled to work alone, verify that four records agree: your shift description, the provider’s written plan, the caregiver-facing instructions, and the confirmed schedule.
Release the plan only when you can answer:
Who accepted the work? ____________________
Who approved the instructions? ____________________
Who will perform the first scheduled shift? ____________________
Who receives the first problem call? ____________________
If those answers do not line up, return the plan for correction. The next move is not another general conversation. It is a corrected document with one person responsible for putting it into use. Keep that record with the other hiring checks described in Hire a Caregiver in St. Louis: Agency or Direct.