Wandering in Hospitalized Older Adults: Identifying Risk is the First Step in this Approach to Preventing Wandering in Patients with Dementia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2008

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000336968.32462.c9

Abstract

Overview: People who have dementia are at risk for wandering away from the safety of the care setting and becoming lost in the community. Reported cases of people with dementia wandering off, even from locations such as hospitals, have become increasingly common. Preventing incidents in which the patient wanders away is critical because once a person with dementia becomes lost, she or he may die before being found. Three critical elements of prevention and action are accurate assessment of at-risk individuals, provision of intensive supervision, and implementation of a standardized search plan if a person with dementia is missing. Watch a free video demonstrating the best practices for preventing hospitalized patients with dementia from wandering away at http://links.lww.com/A306

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

American Journal of Nursing, v.108, issue 10, p. 62-70

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