title: Wandering in hospitalized older adults: identifying risk is the first step in this approach to preventing wandering in patients with dementia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, USA. mrowe@ufl.edu
authors.forename: Meredeth
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rowe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003221:Confusion / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017751:Safety Management; D012637:Security Measures; D016138:Walking