Products and Strategies for Managing Dementia Wandering

Running a senior living facility comes with many rewards, and providing elderly adults with a safe place to live is one of them. However, senior care also comes with challenges, particularly for those who serve memory care patients. Dementia wandering behavior can be difficult to control in a safe, effective manner that doesn’t make residents feel like their rights and freedoms have been stripped away from them.

Don’t be discouraged, though, because there are ways to manage wandering safety risks, especially dementia wandering at night. Products have been created that can help. For example, wandering alarms for dementia can provide staff with some peace of mind because they can quickly address a situation in which an elderly patient has breached a perimeter. The alerts help staff get to patients in a timely manner to prevent wander-related accidents. Strategies can also help keep dementia residents safe, such as having a calming routine each day.

Dementia Wander Management Strategies and Products

Continue reading to find more information about products and strategies that can help with wander management.

Design Your Healthcare Facility With Wander Management in Mind

When designing a healthcare facility, it’s important to consider the needs of those in your care, particularly the elderly and those with dementia. Wander management is one practical strategy you can implement that will benefit those patients.

For patients with these needs, you should plan out hallways and rooms to give them ample space to move and explore safely, as well as ensure access points are secure or monitored at all times. This way, you can ensure they have suitable space and maintain an overall level of safety and comfort.

Sticking to a regular routine is incredibly beneficial for dementia patients, as it can provide them with a sense of comfort and security. Once the patient grows accustomed to their routine, they are less likely to experience confusion or agitation and are more likely to remain calm. Plus, if any form of wandering behavior begins, maintaining an established daily schedule can help contain it.

Wandering Security & Surveillance

Comfortably adhering to their daily activities will also help reduce any violent episodes or outbursts associated with memory care. The familiarity of a routine allows the patient to feel safe, which in turn leads to greater well-being and improved quality of life.

Taking care of Alzheimer’s or dementia patients often requires extra security measures. Installing cameras, setting up security points and access control are all great tools that can help to prevent wandering. With multiple layers of protection in place, you can be confident that vulnerable individuals are safeguarded from potential wander accidents.

• Guards
• Electronic access control
• Locking doors
• Security gates
• Nurse stations

Staff Training & Education

Caring for those with dementia who wander is a challenging task and one that requires comprehensive training and educational programs. Training staff in areas such as special needs care and behavior management can help decrease the risk of wandering incidents while providing frequent educational programs to staff can ensure information is kept fresh in their minds. By implementing these two important strategies, both in the short term and on a continual basis, great strides can be made in providing quality care to patients with dementia who wander.

Staying up-to-date on the latest education and training can also help in recognizing other issues that memory patients experience such as confusion, fear, anger, and anxiety. Having a deeper understanding of these often difficult issues can make it easier to deal with physical outbursts, ultimately promoting better care and well-being for those affected by dementia.

Consistent Routines

Sticking to a regular routine is incredibly beneficial for dementia patients, as it can provide them with a sense of comfort and security. Once the patient grows accustomed to their routine, they are less likely to experience confusion or agitation and are more likely to remain calm. Plus, if any form of wandering behavior begins, maintaining an established daily schedule can help contain it.

Comfortably adhering to their daily activities will also help reduce any violent episodes or outbursts associated with memory care. The familiarity of a routine allows the patient to feel safe, which in turn leads to greater well-being and improved quality of life.

Direct Memory Patient Supervision

Technology can help prevent dementia accidents but can never be a complete substitute for proper supervision. Dementia patients should always have staff supervision along with other safety policies and procedures if incidents should occur. Keeping accurate records and monitoring patients at all times can help keep any wandering accidents from happening.

Dementia Wander Alarms/Alerts

One important product that can significantly reduce wander incidents is the ResidentGuard wander management product from Accutech. This security product uses a “wander wearable” (a comfortable bracelet) coupled with an alert system that tells staff if a patient has wandered out of a secure area of the facility.

Alerts help staff to quickly locate the wandering patient and get them back to a safe part of the senior living facility. Alerts can also tell staff if a bracelet has been removed.

If You Had to Choose Three Strategies...

Knowing how to keep dementia patients from wandering is not a one-time lesson. One solution is not always right for everyone, and you may need to try different strategies and products. You need to figure out which options will work best for your facility or situation.

There is no such thing as too much security or safety when it comes to Alzheimer’s and dementia patients; however, you may not have the resources to implement every possible strategy or utilize every wander management product on the market. If you had to choose only three strategies for protecting memory care patients from harm, you may want to choose direct supervision, access control, and wander management. With these three strategies, your wandering patients should be safe and sound.

Do you need to implement an access control system or a wander management system at your hospital or elder care facility? Accutech Access has solutions for senior living and hospital facilities. Call today to learn more about our products for wander management and patient safety.