Managing Patient Wandering

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The safety and health of patients are the most important criteria for hospitals and healthcare facilities for elderly people. Many people in these institutions suffer from conditions such as Alzheimer's, dementia, and other disorders that put them at risk of wandering. They can leave their room at any time, end up on the street and find themselves in a dangerous and possibly life-threatening predicament. Statistically speaking, six out of 10 people with dementia have wandered at least once, which is a big concern for both their loved ones and the medical staff.

So, how can we ensure the safety of elderly patients and eliminate the risks of them leaving the clinic? The solution is a wander management system, which allows you to control the movements and track the routes of a patient in real time. At Navigine, we are developing a patient wandering system and are ready to provide tools for implementing the platform into the hospital infrastructure.

Keeping elderly patients safe

Introducing wander guard systems helps monitor the movement of patients and prevent them from leaving the clinic. Patients are given a sense of freedom, but the medical staff can always keep up with their location through the web interface, and, if necessary, help them return to their room.

Increasing the satisfaction of patients and their families

Thanks to wander management, the patient's loved ones don’t have to worry about the safety of their family member. They no longer have to stress about them getting lost or ending up in a dangerous situation, as now they are in a protected and safe environment. This increases customer satisfaction and makes them more loyal to the medical facility.

Receive real-time notifications

The wander management system provides medical staff with instant notifications in case of emergencies. If a patient leaves the territory of the hospital, loses or removes their bracelet with a label, or doesn’t return to their room after a certain time, the system immediately sends a notification to the staff.

Reduce staff time searching for wandering patients

The patient wandering alert system helps staff manage their time efficiently. Thanks to wander management, employees can find a missing person in a matter of minutes. This increases the overall productivity of the clinic and allows employees to focus on their daily activities.

Features of wander management solutions

Wandering Patient Tracking
Real-time alerts

Wandering Patient Tracking

Wander management systems work based on indoor positioning. Patients are provided with special bracelets (or smart watches/badges), inside of which are tags with identifiers. Beacons are installed throughout the clinic building, sending out signals at a certain cadence. As soon as a person with a tag enters their coverage area, they determine their location and send updates to the smartphones/desktop computers of the medical staff accordingly.

When implementing patient wandering systems, a digital map is provided to the staff, which allows them to track the patient's movement. Surveillance is carried out in real-time, which means that the staff is always aware of where their patient is currently. Mobile tag wristbands are compact, reliable, and easy to manage, and therefore guarantee accurate updates according to the patient’s location.

Features:
providing a map of the hospital with access zones for the patient;
tracking the current location of patients;
monitoring the movements of patients with dementia;
creating safe spaces with the definition of access for each patient;
building short and convenient routes from a medical professional to a patient.

Expected benefits:

Improving the efficiency of medical staff

Preventing wandering and leaving the territory

Increasing the satisfaction of patients and their families

Real-time alerts

If needed, the clinic area can be divided into separate zones with limited access for certain patients using beacons. The patient wandering system also provides opportunities to determine the curfew for study rooms and other spots. If a patient leaves the building or steps outside their zone, the patient wandering alert system instantly sends appropriate notifications to the medical professionals. Thanks to these messages, staff can immediately respond to an emergency, determine the exact location of the patient and go there to take them back to their room.