First Week Home After Orthopedic Surgery: An Equipment Checklist

The first days at home can feel like a lot. There may be new equipment, written instructions, medications, appointments, and several people trying to remember who is responsible for what.

This checklist gives you one manageable job: take the equipment already named in your discharge instructions and make sure each item is present, assembled, adjusted by the right person, easy to reach, and assigned to someone.

It does not create a universal shopping list. Your discharge packet and care team provide the actual list for your procedure.

The five checks for every item

For each piece of equipment in your discharge plan, record:

1. Present: Is it actually in the home?
2. Assembled: Is it out of the box and put together?
3. Adjusted and demonstrated: Has the responsible clinician, therapist, fitter, or supplier set it up and shown the right person how it is used?
4. Reachable: Is it where the discharge plan expects it to be used?
5. Assigned: Does one named person know they are responsible for it?

These checks do not determine whether an item is medically appropriate or whether the home is safe. They simply make missing pieces easier to see and fix.

Who this guide is based on

The sources used here focus mainly on hip and knee joint replacement. They include patient guidance from MedlinePlus, OrthoInfo, and Kaiser Permanente Washington.

If your procedure involves the shoulder, spine, foot, ankle, ACL, hand, or another area, use this as an organizational framework only. Your own discharge instructions should supply the equipment, restrictions, and contact information.

Before leaving the hospital or surgery center

If you can, ask these questions before going home. If you are already home, call the ward, surgeon’s office, therapist, or supplier and work through anything unanswered.

• What equipment is listed for this discharge?
• Which items are being supplied or arranged?
• Which items, if any, are we expected to obtain?
• Who adjusts each item for this person?
• Who demonstrates its use?
• Who do we contact if an item is missing, damaged, or does not fit?
• What is the out-of-hours contact route?
• Where are the written instructions for each item?

Write down names and phone numbers. “Call the hospital” is much less useful at night than a specific department and number.

On arrival: do one calm inventory

Do not try to remember everything at once. Put the discharge packet in a fixed place, take out the equipment list, and check one item at a time.

1. Is it here?

Match the equipment in the home with the items in the discharge instructions. Use the exact names where possible.

If something is missing, record:

• The missing item
• Whether it was meant to be supplied
• Who you contacted
• When you contacted them
• What they said would happen next

Do not substitute another product without asking the care team or supplier responsible for the item.

2. Is it assembled?

Open boxes and confirm that the parts listed in the manufacturer’s instructions are present. Keep the manual with the equipment.

Assembly is not the same as clinical adjustment. A family member may be able to attach ordinary parts under the manufacturer’s directions, but the correct height, fit, position, or setting may still belong to a therapist, fitter, supplier, or clinician.

If the instructions are missing or unclear, stop and contact the supplier rather than guessing.

3. Has the right person adjusted it and shown you?

Write down who adjusted or fitted the item and who received the demonstration. If nobody has done that and your discharge plan expects it, contact the care team or supplier.

This is especially important for walking aids and fitted equipment. This page does not reproduce techniques for walkers, crutches, canes, transfers, beds, or stairs.

4. Is it where it will be used?

An item can be present and still be unhelpful if it is in a box across the room.

Place it according to the discharge plan and the instructions you were given. Check the ordinary moments when it will be needed:

• Coming through the entrance
• Sitting in the main chair
• Moving between bed and bathroom
• Getting dressed

Make sure the route is clear of rugs, cords, spills, and objects stored on the floor or stairs. Check that the night light and bedside lamp work and can be reached.

Do not turn this into a mobility test for the person recovering. You are checking the placement of objects, not asking anyone to rehearse walking, transfers, or stairs.

5. Who is responsible for it?

Put one name beside each item. A role such as “family” or “caregiver” can leave everyone assuming someone else is doing the job.

The named person may be responsible for:

• Keeping the manual nearby
• Checking supplies named in the manual
• Cleaning, draining, charging, or storing the item as instructed
• Contacting the supplier about a fault or missing part
• Returning rented or borrowed equipment on time

The manufacturer determines maintenance. This guide does not create cleaning schedules, replacement intervals, or supply quantities.

Check the four places that matter first

Entrance

Confirm that the expected walking aid is at the point where the plan says it will be needed. Clear the path from the door and make sure children and pets are with a named person during arrival.

Main chair

Check that the chair named in the plan is in position and that the expected aid is reachable from it. Keep the route clear and place the phone and care-team contacts nearby.

Bed and bathroom route

Check that the aid is in its planned place, the night light is working, and a lamp or switch can be reached from the bed. Remove rugs, cords, and floor clutter.

If a bedside or three-in-one commode is part of the plan, confirm that it is where the care team agreed it should be and has been set up by the responsible person.

Dressing area

Put the dressing aids named in the instructions beside the chair or bed where they will be used. Place clothes and shoes within reach rather than leaving them in a bag or low drawer.

This is an equipment and placement check. Follow your care team’s instructions for dressing technique.

Assign the household jobs too

Equipment is only part of the first week. Write a name beside:

• Daytime help
• Night-time help
• Meals and groceries
• Cleaning and laundry
• Children and pets
• Transport and appointments
• Equipment cleaning or maintenance
• Rental returns and supplier calls

Include the handover time between day and night help. If the person covering nights needs a break, name the person who takes over.

A short written list on the fridge or a shared phone note is better than a plan that lives in one person’s head.

If something is missing

Try not to panic or rush into a replacement purchase.

1. Check whether the item was meant to be supplied or arranged.
2. Contact the ward, surgeon’s office, therapist, or supplier responsible for it.
3. Ask what to do while the issue is being resolved.
4. Ask whether borrowing or renting is appropriate and who arranges it.
5. Buy only after the people responsible for the plan confirm what is needed.

Log the gap, the person contacted, the date, and the next step. Do not assume one product can replace another.

Nothing here confirms that an equipment purchase is FSA- or HSA-eligible or covered by insurance. Check payment and eligibility separately for the exact item.

Recheck during days two through seven

Arrival day tells you what was true when you arrived. Later in the week, repeat five simple checks:

1. Presence and placement: Is every item still where it should be?
2. Manuals and supplies: Are the instructions findable, and are the supplies named in them available?
3. Maintenance: Has any cleaning, draining, charging, storage, or part replacement required by the manual been completed?
4. Responsibility: Does every item and household shift still have a named person?
5. Open gaps: Is anything still missing, unresolved, due for return, or awaiting a supplier response?

This is not a recovery assessment. It does not measure symptoms, function, progress, or whether the arrangement is adequate. Direct those questions to the care team.

Keep the contact route visible

Everyone helping should be able to find:

• Care-team contact details
• The out-of-hours number
• Supplier or fitter contacts for each item
• The discharge packet
• Product manuals

Any concern about the person recovering belongs with the warning-sign and when-to-call instructions in the discharge packet. If those instructions are missing or unclear, contact the care team.

Printable equipment checklist

Before or immediately after discharge

• Equipment list reviewed with the care team
• Supplied and self-obtained items identified
• Person responsible for adjustment or fitting recorded
• Supplier and care-team phone numbers recorded
• Out-of-hours contact route written down
• Discharge packet stored in a fixed place

One row for every item

Placement

• Entrance clear and expected aid at the planned point
• Main chair in place with aid and phone reachable
• Bed-to-bathroom route clear and night light working
• Dressing aids, clothes, and shoes within reach
• Children and pets assigned to a named helper

Household responsibilities

• Day and night help named with a handover time
• Meals, groceries, cleaning, and laundry assigned
• Children, pets, transport, and appointments assigned
• Equipment maintenance and supplier calls assigned
• Break coverage arranged for the person helping overnight

Days two through seven

• Every item still present and correctly placed
• Manuals and required supplies available
• Maintenance completed exactly as the manual states
• Named person confirmed for every item and shift
• Missing items, returns, and supplier follow-ups logged

Completing this checklist means the organizational checks were made. It does not determine whether the home, equipment, or recovery plan is medically safe or appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one standard equipment list after orthopedic surgery?

No. The list depends on the procedure, person, home, and care pathway. Use the list in your discharge instructions and ask the care team if it is missing or unclear.

Who should adjust a walker or other aid?

The therapist, fitter, supplier, or clinician responsible for that item. Do not copy measurements or techniques from a general website.

Can we use something we already own?

Ask the care team or supplier. They can determine whether the existing item matches the plan. This guide does not treat two products as equivalent.

How often should equipment be cleaned?

Follow the instructions for the exact product. If the manual is silent, ask the supplier. Do not borrow a cleaning method or schedule from another device.

We completed the checklist. Are we ready?

The checklist cannot answer that. It records whether equipment and responsibilities have been organized. Questions about readiness, safety, symptoms, or recovery belong with your care team.

Methodology

This article is research-based, compiled from nine documents issued by three bodies and read on the date below: six MedlinePlus patient-instruction pages from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, two OrthoInfo pages from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and one Kaiser Permanente Washington handout. Every category, placement point and question is attributed in the sentence carrying it. No retailer checklist, rehabilitation-facility page or product round-up was used, and no source presenting a fixed equipment list as universal.

Byline: Kade Lato. Kade Lato is the founder’s editorial pen name. No clinical, tax, or benefits-administration credential is claimed.

PainRecoveryPro has not attended a discharge, visited or assessed any home, handled, assembled, adjusted, fitted, cleaned or tested any equipment, cared for anyone, or commissioned any assessment, and holds no clinical, nursing, physical-therapy or occupational-therapy credential. Nothing here rests on personal experience, and nothing on this page has been reviewed by a clinician or therapist.

The structure is this article’s own non-clinical synthesis: the five readiness fields, the six-column conversion of a discharge packet into a recordable list, four arrival-day moments treated as placement rather than mobility, assignment as an explicit artifact, a gap path beginning with was this meant to be supplied, the bounded days-two-to-seven rerun, and the blank checklist. No source’s checklist is reproduced, and no verbatim wording is taken from any MedlinePlus page.

This article carries no affiliate links, tracking parameters or referral codes, and names no brand, model, price or merchant. See also Editorial Standards and the Medical Disclaimer.

Sources and dates

Every source below was opened and read on September 1, 2026.

Limitations recorded on September 1, 2026

• Only the MedlinePlus pages display review dates, given above; all six are updated by named physicians and also reviewed by the A.D.A.M. editorial team. Both OrthoInfo pages and the Kaiser Permanente handout displayed no review or update date when read. The OrthoInfo pages name a contributor and a peer reviewer instead. Silent revision on those three is undetectable except by re-reading, so every fact taken from them is dated to the day it was read.
• The Kaiser Permanente Washington document is one health system’s regional handout, not national guidance, and is written as a preparation checklist. Only the parts still checkable after discharge are used.
• Several source statements are deliberately not carried. The knee-discharge page’s duration for how long walking aids may be needed, and its description of what a person may be able to do by the time they go home, are both that source’s own general statements; neither is reproduced, because no recovery timeline and no expected level of function is published here. Bed height and toilet height are named as categories without their criteria, because height for a particular person after a particular procedure is clinical. The hip page’s movement restrictions, and all technique, are excluded entirely.
• No prevalence of any kind is published, and every check is written as a condition to record rather than one expected to hold or fail. No competitor set was surveyed and none is characterized. Every PainRecoveryPro article referenced above is an unpublished draft, so no live link to any is given, and no product guide is linked.

Last reviewed: September 1, 2026.