If you're helping an aging parent, in-law, or family member navigate their healthcare, you can set up a patient profile for them and use Inciteful Med exactly as you would for yourself.

Setting up

Create a patient profile under your account - see Creating a patient profile. Use the relationship field to label it ("father", "mother-in-law", etc.) so it's easy to tell apart in the patient picker.

If you're caring for several family members, create a profile for each. The patient picker lets you switch between them, with each one having their own records and threads. See Switching between patient profiles.

Records

The most useful thing you can do is bring records together. Older patients often have fragments of their history scattered across hospitals, primary care, specialists, and home health.

Download records from their patient portals and upload them - see Uploading files. You'll usually need their cooperation to sign in to the portal once.
Import a FHIR or C-CDA export if their portal offers one - see Importing a FHIR or Apple Health file and Importing a C-CDA file.
Upload paper records, discharge summaries, and lab printouts they have at home - see Uploading files.

Consent and authority

A few realities to navigate:

You should have your loved one's permission to research their healthcare and store their records. For most family caregiving relationships this is implicit. If they have full decision-making capacity, talk to them about it.
Power of attorney for healthcare is a separate legal matter from using a research tool. If you're making care decisions on their behalf, formalize that with the appropriate paperwork in your state.
Inciteful Med doesn't verify consent. We trust that you have the right to research on behalf of the people you create profiles for.

Useful question patterns

"What are the risks of [medication] in someone who is 84 with [conditions]?"
"What does the evidence say about [treatment] for older adults?"
"What should I expect from [diagnosis] over the next 6-12 months, and what should I be watching for?"
"What questions should I ask the geriatrician at our next appointment?"

Caregiver burnout is real

Researching for someone you love is exhausting. Inciteful Med can save time but it won't replace the emotional load of caregiving. For caregiver-specific support, see the Patient Resources collection- several of the partner organizations there focus on caregiver communities. We also hear routinely from other caregivers that research is an easier task to delegate to other family members or close friends. The research can be done remotely and shared with you.

End-of-life care

If you're researching palliative care or end-of-life decisions, see End-of-life and palliative care research for guidance specific to that context.