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
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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
Store personal info,
medication info, severity
level, measures social
interactions etc
Visual alert indicators for
wandering, missed
medication etc
Patient info is securely
stored, accessible to
authorized personnel
Pinned to clothes or
hung as a pendant
Patient
ID card
Bluetooth chip allows
patient info to be
read/written using a smart
phone
Bluetooth Beacons for alert indication
Alert Zone
Alert Zone
In Zone
In Zone
Safe Zone
When patient enters
“alert zone”, care giver is
alerted on his/her mobile
Safe
phone
Zone
Alert Zone
Safe Zone
Alert Zone
Alert Zone
Safe Zone
Alert Zone
Bluetooth chip in the ID
card create a security
zone around the patient
Safe Zone
Safe Zone
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