My father had a recent physical decline, hospitalization, rehab, and has been scheduled to come home Thursday. I am happy his physical strength has returned, it make caregiving much easier when your not lifting them 2. My question, is there a safe way to "contain" or "lock" dad in the house or even his room at night? Or is this an "act" in care giving that could get me in trouble? He has sundowners, not even the nurses can keep him in bed, he is full blown stage 6 with hallunications, anxiety, anger, and has even left the house at 3am to get the mail. Has anyone found anything that works?!
I have read how some people have installed some kind of beam that alerts the caregiver when their loved one gets up and passes thru their bedroom door. There are all kinds of alerts that you can install in the bedroom, and extra locks for doors leading outside of the house. Locking the bedroom door sounds dangerous to me. Kind of "iffy" as in leaning towards "elder abuse." But that's My point of view.
Then why can the nursing home lock him in his room? I would think wandering into the street at 3am is more likely to happen than a fire... there are 3 locks on each door with an alarm but by the time the alarm sounds
Some options to prevent wandering:
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/control-wandering-in-alzheimers-patients-142801.htm
Perhaps the advice from LyricaLady might help you?
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/Wandering-my-Mom-with-alzheimers-is-wandering-all-the-time-Trying-to-stop-her-makes-her-agressive-De-141528.htm
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/keep-my-mother-out-of-rooms-in-parents-home-152338.htm
If you worry about him wandering into someone else's room, let them lock their own door.
In addition to safety concerns about locking people up, in Texas, the legal system takes a dim view of locking sick and elderly people up (or tying them down, for that matter).
In rare instances a person in a hospital or NH might be restrained for their personal safety. They can use physical restrains or put people in a tent bed, which is pretty much what it sounds like, a bed with a zippered net tent over it. But a doctor has to order these restraints and specifically list the time, duration, and cause for each use. You can't buy them over the counter without a prescription. There has to be someone nearby on call and a way for the person to call to get help.
There are laws restricting the use of physical restraints and you would almost certainly be in violation of them if you installed one at a private house. The same is probably true of locking people in their rooms.
Unfortunately if the wandering is a nightly event, he cannot be left to wander, and you cannot be attending every night as you need your sleep. In my opinion, nightly wandering starts to necessitate 24 hour (on the job)attendance, you may need an overnight caretaker or to consider a facility.
I would instead explore motion sensors that alert when he crosses the threshold of his bedroom, as well as additional sensors along the path to the exterior doors so that if you don't hear one sensor, there are additional backups to alert you before he gets outside.
You might also consult with the fire department to see what they would recommend.