Hospitals to review patient security

Wandering seniors prove a challenge

Calgary hospitals are set to re-evaluate how they monitor higherrisk patients on medical wards after a spate of cases involving seniors wandering from Rockyview General Hospital, including one that ended in a fatality.

Dr. Francois Belanger, Alberta Health Services Calgary zone medical director, said hospital staff try their best to provide an environment that’s caring and secure.

“We do have to balance the safety of the patient, their need for some kind of supervision versus the appropriate environment to get better,” Belanger said. “We’re not a lockdown facility, we’re a hospital.”

On July 20, the body of a 68-year-old man with dementia, who strayed from the Rockyview, was pulled from the nearby Glenmore Reservoir, two days after he went missing.

On tuesday, robert johnson, 71, wandered from the southwest Calgary facility. He was found a day later, downtown, by family members.

Then, at around 11:30 Wednesday morning, a 69-year-old male patient wandered from the Rockyview. He was found a short time later at Chinook Centre.

The cases come as AHS has launched a review into the death of 64-year-old Wendy Miller.

The Calgary woman, who had dementia, died at Rockyview July 25, allegedly after choking on food.

AHS wasn’t able to provide figures Wednesday on how often patients “elope” or wander away from hospitals.

Belanger said there’s no particular reason the recent spate of incidents involved Rockyview, however, he noted the hospital has a larger in-patient population with some form of cognitive impairment.

“We’re taking a look at our risk-assessment procedures,” Belanger said. “We’re going to focus also on our higher-risk group to ensure they’re in the right physical environment, the right units, they have the optimal monitoring.”

Hospital patients who have a form of cognitive impairment, but require medical attention unrelated to mental health issues, can present a particular challenge for hospitals.

University of Calgary faculty of nursing instructor Donna Marcy-Edwards said bustling acute care centres can increase agitation and fear.

Medical wards in hospitals aren’t necessarily equipped with the type of surveillance or other security measures patients with dementia require, she added.

“The challenge is to provide a safe and secure environment that allows us to manage their care and behaviour in a way that’s humane as well.”

Hospitals are also struggling with an overload of elderly and frail patients waiting for a long-term care bed to open in the community. The medical superboard aims to reduce that backlog by 50 per cent by October and plans are underway to try to reach that goal, Belanger said.

Critics said the province hasn’t done enough to provide spaces in communities for vulnerable patients who need long term care, pointing to the imminent closure of a facility for dementia and aging patients in Carmangay. The health authority says the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre is not up to building standards and that all patients will find appropriate homes elsewhere.