Try: First have a thorough medical evaluation particularly if wandering begins suddenly consider possible physical causes such as illness fever hunger pain swelling etc allow cr to wander if environment is safe and secure place familiar objects furniture and pictures in surroundings help direct cr with clearly labeled rooms for example door decorations or name plaques may be useful for finding bedroom; a picture of a toilet or a brightly colored door may help person locate the bathroom decrease noise levels and number of people interacting with wanderer at one time go for a walk around neighborhood in a mall around home walking or other exercise often reduces agitation that leads to wandering and also helps person to sleep better remove items that may trigger desire to go out shoes coat purse coat rack etc distract with conversation food drink or activity try to involve the cr in household activities such as folding laundry washing dishes which will help him her feel useful limit activities to 20-30 minutes or less depending on level of impairment make sure the cr isn’t wandering because he she needs to use the bathroom look for signals such as fidgeting with clothes at night be sure the bathroom or a commode is easily accessible try plastic a large digital clock by the bed to orient the cr to time

Materials: n/a

Categories: Behavior Challenging, Emotional Psychological, Medical Physical

Information: n/a

References: Mace n & rabins p 1999 the 36-hour day baltimore the johns hopkins university press robinson a spencer b & white l 1992 understanding difficult behaviors ypsilanti mi eastern michigan university

Keywords: Dementia wandering

*This information is listed as a Tip and is not explicitly medically licensed