Wanderer Prevention

Patient wanderer alarm systems (pwas) – wanderer prevention

The elderly are the most rapidly growing demographic in our society. Caring for elderly patients or residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease increasingly consumes the resources of Hospitals and Nursing Homes. Facilities face real difficulties in dealing with wandering patients/residents. Many are often confused and forget where they are. They may wander away from the facility and place themselves at risk from traffic, bad weather or exhaustion. Uncontrolled wandering of residents can have dire consequences.

Mounting a search for a lost patient/resident is time-consuming, disruptive, and sometimes expensive. Care Staff and relatives may become anxious and distracted. Other patients or residents may also become anxious in the crisis atmosphere of such a search. The facility’s reputation may also be damaged. Traditional approaches to this problem have never been very effective. They are increasingly inappropriate in today’s environment. In the past patients and residents were physically restrained in some way or sedated to prevent wandering. Thankfully, regulatory bodies have become much less tolerant of such practices.

Patient Wandering Alarm Systems (PWAS) detect patients or residents who are wearing RFID tags when they approach monitored doors or areas both inside and outside. Depending on the settings and the mode of operation selected the PWAS triggers alarms, locks or open doors, alerts staff and communicates with other systems such as Nurse Call, Access Control, Radio Paging or DECT Phones.

Wanderer Prevention tags are individually identified and transmit a ‘heartbeat’ radio signal continuously with a battery life exceeding 3 years.

Contact Comtel Technologies today and find out how we can help keep your patients and residents safe.