Exploring the Development Path of Smart Elderly Care in Qinghai Pastoral Areas: A Case Study of the Senior Home in Henan County

Against the backdrop of accelerating population aging in China, conventional elder-care paradigms are increasingly unable to satisfy the nation’s expanding geriatric needs. Smart elder-care, as an innovative modality, has already demonstrated marked advantages in major metropolitan areas. Yet, in ecologically distinctive regions such as pastoral zones—characterized by geographic remoteness, under-developed infrastructure, a dearth of qualified professionals, and low levels of informatization—the diffusion and implementation of smart elder-care confront formidable obstacles. Focusing on the Henan County Nursing Home in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, this study employs field investigations and case analyses to interrogate the challenges impelling the promotion of smart elder-care models in pastoral-area nursing institutions within a digital context, and to delineate corresponding developmental pathways.