F0689

J

Repeated Elopements Due to Failed Elopement Risk Management and Wander Guard Oversight

Chicago, Illinois Survey Completed on 03-01-2026

Penalty

Fine: $50,650

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide adequate supervision and elopement prevention for a cognitively intact resident with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, gait abnormalities, obesity, and hypertension, who had a documented history of exit-seeking and elopement risk. As early as 4/23/25, nursing notes documented that the resident attempted to leave the building and had to be redirected. On 6/21/25, the resident left through the front lobby door and was redirected back, prompting an elopement risk assessment that identified the resident as at risk and led to an elopement care plan and an order for an electronic monitoring device (wander guard) on 6/25/25. Despite this, subsequent elopement risk assessments dated 6/23/25 and 9/25/25, completed by a social worker, incorrectly documented that the resident was not at risk for elopement, which the social worker later acknowledged as clinical errors. Exit-seeking behavior on 9/28/25 was documented, but no new elopement assessment or care plan update was completed, and the resident remained on an unsecured floor where residents could freely access the elevator without a code.

On 10/12/25, the resident eloped again. Earlier that day, the resident attempted to leave through the front door but was stopped and given Haldol 5 mg by the LPN, who did not report the exit-seeking behavior because the resident had not yet left the facility. Later, the resident could not be located, and a code pink was called; the resident ultimately presented to a hospital stating he had left the nursing facility because he was hearing voices. Hospital documentation indicated the facility nurse reported that the resident had tried to elope earlier and had been medicated. When the resident returned to the facility that evening, open areas were noted on the soles of both feet. Although there was a physician order from 6/25/25 through 10/31/25 to check the electronic monitoring device placement and functionality every shift, the LPN documented "N" (no device in place) for multiple days in October and admitted that the device was not on the resident, that this was not reported to administration or a supervisor, and that the absence of the device was not corrected even after the 10/12/25 elopement.

On 2/6/26, the resident eloped a third time, this time from a different unit. The resident had previously been on a secure locked unit (3 North) from 10/15/25 to 1/8/26 without elopements, but after a hospital stay was readmitted on 1/16/26 to an unsecured unit (3 South) where residents knew the elevator code. On the morning of 2/6/26, the LPN on 3 South saw the resident at the elevator stating he was going to the first-floor vending machine, and allowed him to leave the floor unsupervised, not knowing he was an elopement risk and unaware of any wander guard order or device. The resident, who knew the elevator code, reached the first floor, where the receptionist—who did not know the resident was an elopement risk and did not recognize him as a resident—buzzed him out the front door, believing he was staff. The receptionist later stated that the front door wander guard alarm did not sound and that the resident did not have an electronic monitoring device in place. The resident was later found at the hospital after having run, tripped, and fallen, sustaining a closed head injury, chipped and missing teeth, and a lower lip laceration requiring sutures. Throughout these events, staff on multiple units and at the front desk did not consistently know which residents were elopement risks, elopement assessments were inaccurately completed, the care plan was not consistently updated after exit-seeking or elopement events, and the physician order for the electronic monitoring device was discontinued without documented rationale, contributing to the resident’s repeated elopements and injuries.

The Immediate Jeopardy was determined to have begun on 10/12/25, when the resident eloped and returned with bilateral foot injuries, and continued through the subsequent elopement on 2/6/26, during which the resident sustained a head injury and oral trauma. The facility’s own interviews and records showed that staff failed to consistently implement and monitor the ordered electronic monitoring device, failed to reassess and accurately document elopement risk after each incident or exit-seeking behavior, and allowed the resident to access unsecured exits and elevator codes despite a known history of elopement. The administrator acknowledged that the resident’s first documented elopement on 6/21/25 was not reported to the state agency and that no incident report or police notification occurred because there was no injury. The DON later confirmed that if a wander guard order exists and the device is not in place, nursing staff are responsible for immediately obtaining and applying a device and notifying leadership, which did not occur in this case. These combined failures in assessment, care planning, communication, and monitoring led to repeated unsupervised departures of the resident from the facility and associated injuries.