Nursing Home Wandering & Elopement

Nursing home staff is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents. This duty includes establishing and implementing specific precautions to prevent elopement, especially among residents at risk of wandering.  

When your loved one is admitted to a nursing home, staff should create a care plan, taking into account the unique needs of the new resident. It’s important to involve the resident, family members, caregivers, and professionals in the development of the care plan to ensure its effectiveness in providing adequate interventions. 

All residents with cognitive impairments who are able to independently move about and wander should be considered at risk for eloping, even if no prior elopement history exists, according to experts.  

Earlier tactics used to prevent wandering and elopement included physical restraints and medications. But these strategies proved to yield harmful side effects and negative consequences for the patients. Today, nursing homes can use both technology and other interventional methods to keep residents safe from elopement concerns while allowing them to maintain some independence to support their overall physical and social functioning. Some ways nursing homes might choose to mitigate elopement risks include: 

• Using locating strategies, such as GPS, Bluetooth, radio frequency, and Wi-Fi 
• Installing alarms and sensors, such as motion sensors, monitors, and optical systems 
• Utilizing distraction and redirection strategies, such as music therapy, animal therapy, visual barriers on exit doors (e.g., cloth, door murals, and mirrors), or arranging crafts or other activities to keep residents occupied 
• Organizing exercise groups to normalize walking  
• Having ways to identify residents for a safe return if they wander (e.g., ID cards and labels or Safe Return and Medic Alert)
• Installing door locks