WANDERING MANAGEMENT FOR ELDERLY IN ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY

Whisper Links

Wandering in Dementia and Alzheimer’s Patients

• In western Europe there are roughly 7 million people (10 million by 2030) suffering from dementia related illness.

• Individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s and/or dementia are prone to wandering.

• Estimates from the National Alzheimer’s Association show nearly 60% will wander at some point during their battle with the disease.

• Wandering, a challenging behavior associated with dementia, affects many residents of long-term care/assisted living facilities and can result in elopement, injury, and death.

Wandering Mgmt. in Assisted Living Facilities

• To combat wandering problem, additional staff and security personnel must be on continuous watch to prevent “elopement”.

• Additional staff and security personnel increases the cost of the assisted living facilities, does not allow them to focus on other duties

• Ex. Total cost of informal care for dementia related illness in europe in

2008 was € 96.6 billion

• Patient with repetitive wandering incidents become high risk patients and are confined to more secure areas. 

• Although the safety issues are somewhat in check, the patient’s quality of life is diminished due to being limited to a constricted area.

Electronic tracking for wandering management

• Electronic tracking devices attached to patients can help alert care givers when dementia patients wander out of specified “geo-fence area”

• Devices can be used as a wrist watch, pendant hanging over the neck, can be clipped to a keychain or attached to a belt, sewed into clothing.

• GPS based systems used for people with early stages of dementia and related illness in a independent living facility.• Can be used outdoors, patients can be tracked anywhere• Usually bulky due to big batteries, obtrusive, stigmatize patients• Very low battery times (few days to couple of months)

• Bluetooth 4.0 based systems used for people with moderate/severe dementia and related illness living in a assisted living facility• Use indoors and outdoors, can be tracked in and around the assisted living facility• Can be small and unobtrusive due to smaller batteries• Long battery times 1-2 years• Smart phone compatibility

Patient ID card for wandering management in assisted living facility

Patient ID card

Pinned to clothes or hung as a pendant

Store personal info, medication info, severity level, measures social

interactions etc

Patient info is securely stored, accessible to authorized personnel

Bluetooth chip allows patient info to be

read/written using a smart phone

Visual alert indicators for wandering, missed

medication etc

Bluetooth Beacons for alert indication Alert Zone

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Alert Zone

Safe Zone

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In Zone In Zone

Bluetooth chip in the ID card create a security

zone around the patient

When patient enters “alert zone”, care giver

is alerted on his/her mobile phone

Beacons create physical zones “geo-fence” in assisted living facility

Advantages of our technology• Our patient ID card and Beacons help alert the caregiving

personnel only when a patient goes onto alert zone.• Relieve the personnel from continuous monitoring and allow them

to focus on other duties. • Lowers personnel cost• Brings more freedom of movement to patients, better quality of life• Smartphones can also be used to track an eloped patient

• Card stores all patient records • Easy access of medication info, personal info etc using

smartphone• Improves caregiver workflow, saves time, improves service• Automatic and secure transfer of patient data from smartphone to a

server, easy assess to data through a web login