Wandering and Elopement

Nursing homes need to have sufficient numbers of adequately trained staff to supervise, monitor and assess the residents to ensure they remain safe and are not at risk for wandering and elopement. Generally, the terms “wander” and “elopement” are used when a resident leaves a part of the facility or the building itself without notifying staff. Senior nursing home residents that wander can get into dangerous situations such as traffic or encountering adverse weather conditions, such as extreme cold, leading to injuries ranging from frost bite to hypothermia and death.

Often a senior that leaves the facility can be gone hours before anyone may even notice they are missing from the nursing home. Residents can become disorientated and are often unable find their back to the facility or seek assistance on their own. Before the development of electronic monitoring devices, such as tag alarms nursing home residents would have more restrictions in their activities to allow for supervision. It is important that the nursing home have enough well trained staff and the necessary monitoring equipment to allow the resident as much freedom as possible, without putting them at risk for injuries related to wandering and elopement. Generally elopement is used to describe a resident that actually leaves the facility without being observed.

Usually, a resident that wanders or elopes has orders from their doctor to be supervised and may even be required to wear electronic monitoring. Nursing homes may have insufficient staff to adequately monitor the residents allowing a person to exit the building unnoticed. The facility may have also failed to implement or respond to alarms and monitors designed to alert the staff when a resident leaves a designated area.