Patient wandering is a common behavior among dementia patients, including those with Alzheimer’s disease, often triggered by confusion, anxiety, or unmet physical or emotional needs. Managing dementia patient wandering is critical for caregivers and healthcare providers to ensure safety, reduce staff strain, and maintain continuity of care for the person living with dementia.
Whether wandering occurs during the day or night, this wandering behaviour poses serious risks—including falls, injuries, elopement from secure environments, and missing incidents that threaten the personal safety of the person with dementia. This blog explores why dementia patients wander, the impact on healthcare operations, and how AiRISTA’s RTLS (Real-Time Location System) technology helps mitigate these risks through proactive monitoring and rapid response.
Why Do Dementia Patients Wander?
Dementia patient wandering is a complex and multifaceted behavior influenced by various factors, including:
- Disorientation about time, familiar places, or location, which can occur even in the early stages of dementia or mild cognitive impairment
- Anxiety or restlessness in new or changed environments
- Unmet basic needs such as hunger, pain, or thirst
- Sleep disturbances, daytime naps, or disrupted circadian rhythms, including sundowning in the early evening
- Medication side effects or excessive stimulation
- Attempts to find past friends, former obligations, or a sense of home
These wandering behaviors may manifest as making repetitive movements, pacing along fence lines or tree lines, or dressing inappropriately for the weather. They can happen at any time but are especially common during periods of increased confusion. Encouraging physical activity and regular exercise, such as a regular walk or meaningful activities like folding laundry, may help reduce anxiety and prevent wandering incidents. Understanding the underlying causes can help caregivers intervene early and reduce the risk for wandering incidents.
The Impact of Dementia Patient Wandering on Hospitals and Staff
Unmanaged dementia wandering in healthcare settings can lead to:
- Increased fall risk and related injuries
- Emergency alerts or facility lockdowns triggered by door alarms and warning bells
- Interruptions in patient care and delayed treatments
- Higher staff burden and potential burnout due to frequent search efforts
- Compliance challenges with safety regulations and Joint Commission standards
For healthcare organizations, balancing patient autonomy and safety requires environmental adjustments—such as safety gates, visual barriers, night lights, and camouflage doors—and technology-based support systems like AiRISTA’s RTLS. Securing personal items like car keys is also important to prevent wandering incidents.
How RTLS Technology Supports Dementia Wandering Prevention and Patient Flow
AiRISTA’s RTLS platform enables hospitals and long-term care facilities to track patient movement in real time using discreet wearable tags and geo-fencing. This technology helps care teams:
- Monitor Movement Proactively: Receive instant alerts when patients cross predefined boundaries or enter busy places like shopping malls or new surroundings.
- Establish Customized Safety Zones: Define specific areas as off-limits and automatically alert staff to prevent critical wandering and elopement.
- Improve Overnight Monitoring: Enable escalations to the right staff during high-risk hours such as early evening or night, when wandering increases.
- Analyze Behavior Patterns: Identify repeated wandering behaviour through historical movement data to inform personalized care plans.
- Integrate with Existing Workflows: Seamlessly connect to nurse call systems, electronic health records (EHRs), and local law enforcement notifications, including Silver Alert programs and wandering response services.
By enhancing situational awareness, AiRISTA’s RTLS improves patient safety compliance, reduces staff burden, and supports smoother patient flow throughout the facility.
Benefits of RTLS for Healthcare Providers
Hospitals using AiRISTA’s RTLS solution report improvements in:
- Increased emergency response times through faster location identification
- Staff productivity and reduced time spent searching for patients at risk of wandering
- Compliance with safety measures such as medical bracelets, identification bracelets, and emergency protocols
- Communication and coordination between care teams during shift changes and bedside handoffs
- Enhanced ability to check local landscapes and surroundings quickly when a person with dementia wanders
Best Practices for Implementing RTLS in Dementia Care
- Pilot First: Start with one unit before expanding facility-wide to optimize protocols.
- Train Staff Thoroughly: Ensure caregivers understand how to respond to alerts and use the system effectively.
- Customize Protocols: Adjust alert thresholds based on time of day, patient risk level, and new or changed environment factors.
- Involve Families: Educate family members about the system and encourage their participation in safety planning.
- Review and Refine Regularly: Use movement and behavior data to optimize care strategies and reduce wandering incidents.
Emergency Planning for Wandering Events
Every healthcare provider or caregiver should have an emergency plan in place. Best practices include:
- Keeping a current wandering profile at the person’s bedside, including medical condition and behavioral notes
- Sharing important information with staff, first responders, and local law enforcement
- Registering patients with wandering response services and Silver Alert programs when appropriate
- Using RTLS data to reduce search times and improve recovery outcomes
- Starting search efforts immediately if a patient goes missing, focusing on familiar places and the person’s neighborhood
How AiRISTA’s Wander Management RTLS Healthcare Solutions Help
AiRISTA’s Wander Management RTLS healthcare solutions are specifically designed to address the challenges posed by dementia patient wandering. By combining cutting-edge real-time location tracking with customizable alerts and seamless integration into healthcare workflows, AiRISTA empowers care teams to:
- Detect wandering behaviour early and intervene promptly, reducing the risk of critical wandering and missing incidents
- Maintain a secure environment without restricting patient autonomy, supporting dignity and quality of life
- Provide comprehensive monitoring during high-risk times such as early evening or in new or changed environments
- Integrations with third-party systems allow you to automatically:
- Lock the door so the patient is incapable of progressing further.
- Alarm specific staff or activate a nurse call.
- Play a recorded voice to the patient of a familiar person asking them to return to their room.
- Enhance overall care quality by providing data-driven insights into wandering patterns, enabling tailored interventions that address the person’s physical and emotional needs
With AiRISTA’s Wander Management RTLS, healthcare providers can significantly improve patient safety, reduce caregiver burden, and ensure compliance with safety regulations—all while delivering compassionate, person-centered care.
Conclusion
Dementia patient wandering presents significant challenges, but with the right combination of environmental adjustments, care strategies, and advanced technology like AiRISTA’s RTLS, these risks can be effectively managed. By fostering safer, more secure care environments and supporting proactive monitoring, AiRISTA helps healthcare organizations provide the highest standard of care for people with dementia.
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Discover how AiRISTA’s Wander Management RTLS solutions can transform dementia care and safeguard your patients today.
FAQs
What causes dementia patients to wander?
Wandering can be triggered by disorientation, anxiety, unmet needs, or confusion tied to cognitive impairment, sundowning, or new or changed surroundings.
What are the risks of wandering?
Patients may fall, get injured, or leave secure areas, increasing the risk of emergencies, missing incidents, and care disruptions.
How does AiRISTA help with wander management?
AiRISTA’s RTLS provides real-time alerts, location tracking, and behavior analysis to support faster staff response and safer care environments.
Are wearable tags intrusive for patients?
No. AiRISTA’s tags are lightweight, comfortable, and designed with patient privacy and dignity in mind.
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