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Sick-day plan template

This is the page to fill in before you get sick. It collects the phone numbers, medicine list, and facts a nurse will ask for, and it leaves a blank space for the sick-day instructions your own care team gives you. We do not fill the medical parts in, because those are theirs to decide, not ours.

How this page handles what you type

  • What you type is saved in this browser on this device only. It is never sent to our server, and we cannot read it.
  • There is no account and no sign-in. Clearing your browser data will erase it.
  • On a shared or public computer, use Clear everything on this device before you walk away.
  • Print it or save it as a PDF so you have a copy that does not depend on a charged phone.
1. Who I call, in order

Write the names and numbers down now, while you are well. During an illness you should not be searching a portal for a phone number.

The office that manages your diabetes.

Include the menu option if there is one.

Ask the office what to do nights and weekends.

A pharmacist can answer questions about a medicine you already have.

Write the addresses and how long the drive takes.

Someone who can answer their phone during the day.

2. What my care team told me to do when I am sick

Copy their words exactly, and write the date they gave them to you. We deliberately leave this blank — SickDayKit does not know your history and will not fill it in for you.

From an after-visit summary, a portal message, a printed handout, or a phone call you wrote down.

Old instructions can be out of date. Knowing the date tells you whether to ask again.

Their thresholds, not ours. Ask for them in writing if you do not have them.

Bring this list to your next appointment.

3. My medicines and devices

List what you take and where it is. Do not write your own rule for changing a dose — leave that column blank until your care team fills it in.

Name, strength, and when you take it. The phone call goes faster if you can read this list out.

Every clinician will ask.

Include spare batteries, test strips, and lancets.

Strips and ketone strips expire.

4. Facts I will be asked for on the phone

A nurse line will ask most of these in the first two minutes. Having them written down is the whole point of this page.

You do not need the numbers here — the date is enough to point them to the record.

Where the card is, not the number itself if you would rather not write it down.

5. If it becomes an emergency

Fill this in once. It is the part someone else may have to read out loud for you.

Name, age, that you have type 2 diabetes, your other conditions, and what you have taken today.

Print it. A phone with a dead battery is not a plan.

How to fill this in without guessing

Most of this page you can finish in fifteen minutes on a good day. The one part you cannot finish alone is section 2 — the instructions themselves. Getting those is a short, specific request to your care team, and it is easier to make when you are well:

  1. Fill in sections 1, 3, 4 and 5 yourself. They are your phone numbers, your medicine list, your facts.
  2. Send one portal message or make one call asking for written sick-day instructions covering each of your medicines, how often to check, what number or symptom means call, and when to go in.
  3. When they answer, copy their exact wording into section 2 and write the date next to it.
  4. Print the finished page. Put one copy where you would look for it while ill, and give one to whoever would help you.

If you are already sick and section 2 is empty, do not try to reconstruct it from the internet. Call the number in section 1 and ask. That call is the plan.

Questions people ask about this template

Why doesn't the template tell me what to do when I'm sick?

Because the right answer depends on which medicines you take, your kidney function, and your own history — things a template cannot know. Anything we printed in that blank would be a guess with your health attached to it. Your care team fills it in; we make sure there is a place for it and that you can find it at 2am.

Where is my information stored?

In your own browser, on the device you are using, through a browser feature called local storage. The page never sends it anywhere. If you open this page on a different phone or in a private window, it will be empty. See our privacy policy for the details.

Can I use this on a shared computer?

You can, but press Clear everything on this device before you leave, and consider printing rather than saving. Anyone who uses that browser afterwards could open this page and see what you typed.

Is a printed copy really necessary?

It is the version that still works when your phone is dead, when someone else has to read it out for you, or when you are handing it to a clinician in a waiting room. Paper is the point.

What should I do with this once I've been sick?

Update it. Whatever you had to look up or improvise this time is exactly what belongs written down for next time — see After the illness.

If this feels like an emergency, stop reading. In the United States, call 911 or your local emergency number, or go to the nearest emergency department.