Professional nurses deliver home care via digital platforms

At the home of 75-year-old Wu Ling in the city of Baiyin, Northwest China's Gansu province, Zhao Yanyan gently and professionally changed the urinary catheter of the elderly woman's bedridden husband.

Deeply grateful, Wu poured Zhao, a licensed nurse, a cup of tea and clasped her hands in gratitude.

"After my child taught me how to use my phone to book a nurse online, Zhao has been coming regularly to care for my husband since April 2023," Wu said. Her spouse has been confined to a bed since 2019, making daily care a challenge.

"With this 'internet plus nursing' service, he gets the same attentive care at home as in the hospital," she added.

For many senior Chinese citizens like Wu, navigating hospital visits can be a complex ordeal.

Services ordering nurses online or via phone are bringing professional care directly to homes across China, offering warm, high-quality care with unprecedented convenience for the nation's growing "silver-haired" generation.

Zhao, a 37-year-old chief nurse in the neurology department at the First People's Hospital of Baiyin, exemplified this shift. Since her hospital launched the service in 2023, she has conducted over 130 home care visits annually.

"As medical workers, we strive to serve every patient well," Zhao said.

Zhao's hospital undertook rigorous preparations before offering the service. "We conducted comprehensive training and assessment for all nurses, covering laws, ethics, service standards, technical procedures, and emergency response," said Li Fangli, head of the hospital's nursing department. "Only those who passed the assessment can register on the platform and provide home services," Li added.

The results are impressive — the hospital has fulfilled over 700 orders so far. Patients simply submit requests via the hospital's official platform, which then matches them with specialized nurses boasting at least five years of clinical experience.

"Currently, 157 nurses are registered on our platform," said hospital president Gao Zhenhua. "This program solves key problems for elderly patients, those with chronic diseases, people with limited mobility, and offers extended care after discharge, greatly reducing the burden of hospital travel."

Since 2019, the National Health Commission has designated pilot provincial region and released guiding frameworks. In Shanghai, for example, all community health centers offer "doorstep nursing", with 11 categories covering 42 services now covered by basic medical insurance.

China's official data indicated that by late 2024, over 310 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 22 percent of the national population. As the demographic shift deepens, "internet plus nursing" is emerging as a vital tool to address the challenges of elderly care.