How LoRaWAN IoT Solutions Transform Long-Term Care

In this blog article, we’re going to explore how IoT—specifically LoRaWAN wireless technology—is changing long-term care. Many care facilities face everyday challenges such as regularly checking on patients, keeping the environment safe, and tracking important equipment.

LoRaWAN offers a simple, cost-effective way to address these issues. It enables reliable patient monitoring without the need for smartphones, helps control indoor conditions, and makes equipment tracking easier—all while keeping costs low.

However, adopting IoT solutions isn’t always simple. Long-term care facilities often face challenges such as:

• Limited budgets that make expensive systems not the best option.
• Outdated infrastructure that can’t support modern monitoring needs.
• A lack of staff that makes constant monitoring difficult.
• The need to manage large amounts of health data securely and efficiently.

These common challenges affect facilities of all sizes, and finding a reliable solution is essential.

At TEKTELIC, we have years of experience developing trusted IoT solutions for healthcare. Our LoRaWAN-based devices, like the eDoctor and eBeat, deliver accurate, real-time monitoring and alerts, making them a go-to choice for improving patient care in long-term facilities.

In this article, we’ll break down the benefits of LoRaWAN in long-term care and show you how TEKTELIC’s solutions can help improve patient monitoring, environmental safety, and overall operational efficiency. Continue reading to learn how simple technology can make a big difference.

Main Challenges in Long-Term Care

We have heard from many of our customers that long-term care facilities often face common challenges that affect both patient care and everyday operations:

• Quick Health Response: It can be hard to notice sudden changes in a patient’s condition when relying on manual checks.
• Limited Budgets: Expensive monitoring systems are often out of reach, so facilities need low-cost options.
• Old Equipment: Many facilities use older systems that don’t easily work with new monitoring tools.
• Too Much Data: With many devices sending alerts, it can be difficult to focus on the important signals.
• Safe Environment: Keeping rooms safe and spotting problems like water leaks or equipment failures is a constant need.
• Data Security: Ensuring that patient information stays private and secure is essential.

Why LoRaWAN is a Good Fit for Long-Term Care

Smartphone Independence

One of the key advantages of LoRaWAN is that it does not depend on cellular or wi-fi networks. This means wearable devices can work without needing a smartphone. This is especially useful in long-term care, where many seniors do not own a smartphone, don’t always carry one, or feel comfortable using one for health monitoring. Devices like TEKTELIC’s eDoctor and eBeat offer continuous health monitoring without relying on smartphone connectivity, ensuring smooth data collection and timely alerts.

Low-Cost Infrastructure

LoRaWAN’s long-range capability allows a single gateway to cover an entire facility. This reduces the need for extra infrastructure and keeps setup costs low. Since it operates on an unlicensed spectrum, facilities avoid recurring connectivity fees, making it an affordable option.

Extended Battery Life

LoRaWAN devices are built for low power use, often lasting months or even years on one battery charge. This reduces the burden of frequent recharging on patients and caregivers and lowers the risk of missing important monitoring data due to dead batteries.

Expanding Ecosystem of Devices

The growing range of LoRaWAN-compatible devices means that facilities can:

• Monitor vital signs remotely,
• Track environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, and air quality,
• Locate patients and equipment easily,
• Keep an eye on movement patterns and falls,
• And meet safety and hygiene standards.

Common Use Cases in Long-Term Care

We have already learned how LoRaWAN can address the challenges in long-term care—from affordable setups to long-lasting battery life. Now, let’s look at how this technology works in real-life situations. In many facilities, LoRaWAN is already making a difference by keeping track of patient health, monitoring the environment, and ensuring that important equipment is always available. Let’s explore some common ways it helps improve daily operations and safety.

Continuous Health Monitoring

Wearable LoRaWAN devices such as TEKTELIC’s eDoctor and eBeat continuously track:

• Heart rate and respiration rate,
• Body temperature,
• Blood oxygen levels
• Body position (useful for fall detection or bed exits).

This real-time health data allows early detection of potential medical issues, enabling faster intervention and better patient outcomes.

Environmental Monitoring

Maintaining a comfortable and safe environment is crucial in long-term care. LoRaWAN sensors can track:

• Room temperature and humidity to ensure optimal comfort
• CO₂ and air quality to prevent respiratory issues
• Presence detection and movement monitoring for residence safety
• Point of Access monitoring and control
• Water leak detection to avoid facility damage

Asset Tracking

LoRaWAN is an excellent solution for tracking medical equipment and facility assets, ensuring critical tools such as wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, and IV pumps are always available when needed.

Many hospitals face challenges in keeping track of high-value items like MRI machines, surgical tools, and other critical assets—issues that can lead to wasted time, higher operational costs, and delays in patient care.

A recent deployment in a hospital in Mauritius shows how TEKTELIC’s SPARROW Indoor Asset Tracker can overcome these challenges. The solution provides real-time visibility, improves resource utilization, and reduces costs, transforming the hospital’s operations by ensuring that critical equipment is always where it should be. Today, many hospitals around the world are using trackers such as TEKTELIC’s SPARROW and PELICAN to monitor their equipment effectively.

Geofencing and Wandering Prevention

For seniors with Alzheimer’s or dementia, wandering is a major concern. LoRaWAN-enabled wearables with geofencing capabilities:

• Alert caregivers if a resident leaves a designated safe area
• Allow staff to locate residents in real time
• Reduce emergency situations by preventing unsupervised exits

This improves resident safety and reduces caregiver workload, while also offering families peace of mind.

How TEKTELIC Improves Health Monitoring in Long-Term Care

At TEKTELIC, we design devices that make it simple for care facilities to keep track of patient health using LoRaWAN technology. Our solutions work seamlessly with your existing setup, ensuring that vital health data is collected and sent in real time—without the need for smartphones. Let’s review two devices that demonstrate this approach – eBeat and eDoctor.

When developing these devices, our engineers kept in mind the unique needs of long-term care facilities: ease of use, reliability, and continuous monitoring. This focus ensures that both caregivers and patients benefit from accurate, timely data.

eDoctor – Respiratory Health Monitor

This device continuously monitors key health indicators such as heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, chest movement, and activity levels. It sends immediate alerts when any irregularities are detected, so caregivers can quickly respond to potential issues.

Use Cases for eDoctor:

• Respiratory Monitoring: Ideal for patients with chronic lung conditions, eDoctor can detect early signs of breathing difficulties or changes in chest movement.
• Emergency Alerts: Provides real-time notifications if a patient’s vital signs indicate distress, ensuring rapid response during emergencies.
• Activity Tracking: Monitors daily activity levels to help assess a patient’s overall well-being and recovery progress.

TEKTELIC has successfully deployed its eDoctor device in a Calgary hospital to support more accurate monitoring of patients during clinical trials. This advanced wearable collects and analyzes critical health data, enabling healthcare providers to make informed decisions in real time.

eBeat – Continuous Health Monitor

Designed as a comfortable, wearable armband, eBeat tracks vital signs like heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen levels. By offering continuous data, it helps identify early signs of health changes, enabling prompt care when needed.

Use Cases for eBeat:

• Heart Health Monitoring: Continuous tracking of heart rate and blood oxygen levels helps manage patients with cardiovascular conditions.
• Early Detection: Identifies subtle changes in vital signs that could indicate the onset of health issues, allowing caregivers to intervene early.
• Remote Monitoring: Supports the ongoing observation of patients, reducing the need for frequent manual checks and allowing staff to focus on those who require immediate attention.

Both solutions integrate seamlessly into LoRaWAN networks, providing secure, real-time data transmission without requiring patient interaction with a smartphone.

Conclusion

For over 15 years, our experience working with hospitals has shown us that reliable, real-time monitoring is key to providing excellent patient care. Many hospitals already benefit from TEKTELIC’s advanced LoRaWAN solutions—like the successful eDoctor deployment in Calgary—which help spot early health issues, streamline operations, and improve overall care.

Our easy-to-use devices empower care providers to transition to a proactive, data-driven approach that improves both patient safety and operational efficiency. Ready to enhance your facility’s care and efficiency?

Contact us today and discover how TEKTELIC can make a real difference in your long-term care operations.