Abstract
AimIn response to the SARS-CoV-2 emergency, the Competence Centre on digital health ‘TrentinoSalute4.0’ has developed TreC_Televisita, a tele visit solution that meets the needs of the Trentino healthcare system and maintains high-quality patient–doctor interactions while respecting social distancing. This paper highlights how ‘TreC_Televisita’ was integrated into the Trentino healthcare system and its potential to become a structural and durable solution for the future local healthcare service provisioning.Subject and methodsThis paper presents the multifactorial context that TreC_Televisita has faced for its implementation and the strategies adopted for its structural integration into the healthcare system. The analysis focuses on the main issues faced for the integration of the tele visits (e.g. privacy, payments) and how the context of TrentinoSalute4.0 permitted responding quickly to its implementation during the pandemic. It also describes how TreC_Televisita fits into the healthcare continuum from the organisational and technological standpoint, the end-user perspective and the barriers that could hamper the solution scalability.ResultsTreC_Televisita has demonstrated to be a technological solution that can be contextualised for different clinical domains beyond SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, it has shown its potential to scale up the solution beyond the COVID-19 emergency to the whole healthcare provisioning system in the long term.ConclusionBeing a positive experience in the first months of its implementation, the long-term goal is to transform TreC_Televisita into a structural pillar of the Trentino healthcare system, setting the bases for a sustainable, win–win situation for all the stakeholders involved in healthcare service provisioning.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, was first detected in China in December 2019 and, since it has spread worldwide; almost all healthcare systems throughout the38123 Trento, Italy world have been severely affected by such a heavy burden
Being a positive experience in the first months of its implementation, the long-term goal is to transform TreC_Televisita into a structural pillar of the Trentino healthcare system, setting the bases for a sustainable, win–win situation for all the stakeholders involved in healthcare service provisioning
The COVID-19 pandemic urgently called upon the need of a service based on the remote relationship between clinicians and patients; such shift requires structural changes in the healthcare provisioning as well as solutions that can positively overcome major barriers ensuring scalability and long-term adoption
Summary
The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, was first detected in China in December 2019 and, since it has spread worldwide; almost all healthcare systems throughout the38123 Trento, Italy world have been severely affected by such a heavy burden. A great part of the Italian healthcare staff was under pressure for the management of COVID-19 patients, and especially for the dramatic high number of those hospitalised in intensive care units; local healthcare trusts had to keep providing assistance to citizens despite social distancing. In this scenario, the Healthcare Trust of the Autonomous Province of Trento – Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari (APSS) – identified. This relationship has led to the increase of the digitalised services offered to the citizens in the Trentino Province, including both those strictly integrated with the healthcare system, which feature a medical dashboard and an app for the patients such as TreC_Diabetes (Dragoni et al 2019) TreC_Cardio (Maines et al 2020), and those offered to the citizens for health promotion (e.g. Salute +, an app based on gamification promoting healthy lifestyles)
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