Security technology and proper planning can help mitigate the risk of patient wandering and elopement, according to the second part of an article on the Campus Safety website.
Although one-to-one monitoring is very effective at preventing elopements and wandering, it is expensive and can drain the resources of a security department, the article said.
Tele- or remote monitoring can be used to observe at-risk patients via security cameras. Video surveillance is also helpful when an elopement does occur.
Many hospitals take a multi-layered, integrated approach where access control, video surveillance, RFID systems and motion detectors all work together to keep patients safe.