Telemedicine has been defined as the use of electronic information and communication technologies to provide and support healthcare at a distance [1]. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed an unprecedented need to deliver care remotely, following the social-distancing requirements and the disruption in hospitals worldwide [2]. This enforced aspect has fostered the fast development of telemedicine services across a variety of medical specialities, including radiology, psychiatry, dermatology, cardiology, and internal medicine [1], to continue to meet patients’ ambulatory care necessities [3]. Many have forecast that virtual visits will keep taking place even in a new normal [4], as telemedicine has proved to improve access to care and allow better resource efficiency and lower costs compared with the traditional in-person hospital or ambulatory visits [1]. Several studies have investigated the public’s perception [3], experience [5], and satisfaction [6] of telemedicine; many have concentrated on the necessary technological solutions employed [7], following the need for user-friendly but secure platforms and tools [8].

The National Cancer Institute of Aviano (Italy), one of the most recognized institutes and research centres in Europe in the field of oncological surgery and cancer treatments, has recently launched a brand new telemedicine program, named Doctor@Home (D@H), in cooperation with the local government of the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia. This program was initially activated for oncological checkups related to pain therapy, and it is now open for all the follow-up visits offered by the Institute. The first meeting between the clinician and the patient takes place in-person at the hospital. The patient can choose whether he or she wishes to join the telehealth path or to schedule the following appointments in person. The online visit takes place through an online platform, not excluding the possibility of further meetings in presence, if necessary or desired. The patient has to provide a valid e-mail address, to which the medical personnel can refer. On the day and time set for the visit, the medical staff generates the meeting on the “LifeSize” certified platform and communicates the access code to the patient. The patient can either launch the app downloaded on his or her smartphone device or access the link received by e-mail, and he or she is recognized by the system through the unique social security number badge. At the end of the visit, the medical staff creates an encrypted digital report which is sent to the patient via e-mail, along with an unlock code. In the event that a medical prescription is required, an identification code is also sent by e-mail, to allow the patient to collect the documentation at any pharmacy.

While the D@H program per se may not be new, the National Cancer Institute of Aviano has decided to concentrate the protocol and ongoing experience on two very relevant and probably underinvestigated aspects related to telemedicine: co-production of the oncological service and continuous learning.

Co-production in services happens when the user is actively engaged in adding value to the service that he or she needs, thus cooperating in its creation along with the provider [9]. In healthcare, co-production sees the active involvement of the patient, who is called to work together with the clinical staff in reaching the medical outcome, by behaving in specific ways or performing certain activities [10, 11]. In the D@H program, doctors and patients need to find new ways of communicating, of describing symptoms and concerns, since physical touch is not possible. Some post-surgery visits may even require the involvement of a caregiver, who should perform some maneuvers such as palpation and Blumberg’s sign. The clinical staff has a relevant role in guiding the patients through this journey, which also allows citizens to get used to the potential of technology. Specific translation tools may be required [12, 13] to offer such patients’ guidelines about the recommended behaviors or the needed actions, like the presence of one more person. While the program is on, being approved at a regional level, most of such guidelines are still missing; thus, learning looks crucial to create awareness about the best practices.

Therefore, the second pillar of the program, according to the National Cancer Institute of Aviano, is the learning aspect. The clinical staff is employing a learning-by-doing approach to discover how to manage the oncological patient through the screen in the best possible way. Such learning-on-the-job is performed in an interprofessional way, not only involving medical professionals but also patients, employing co-learning to support co-production of care. Medical doctors engaged in the program may rely on the help of colleagues with different specialities, nurses, and psychologists to understand how to manage better the remote visit and the relationship with the patient. The learning paradigm also involves the patients, who are required to understand how to take advantage of the secure and safe possibility offered by the technology, without moving back and forth, with the support, help, and guidance of the oncological staff.

The D@H program aims to merge co-production and co-learning employing four different phases:

  1. 1.

    Co-assess: D@H clinical staff should support patients in systematically self-assessing their symptoms, and describing them in the best way. Self-assessment should be recorded even between follow-ups;

  2. 2.

    Co-decide: D@H clinical staff should employ knowledge translation tools to transfer their medical knowledge to the patient, and gather knowledge from the patient about his or her wills, aims, and urgencies. Understanding the patient’s needs can promote shared decision-making about the following steps and rehabilitation;

  3. 3.

    Co-design: once D@H clinical staff and the patient understand each other, there is room to co-design the oncological treatment plan and the telehealth component of that plan, the actions to be performed, and best behaviors to maximize the medical outcomes;

  4. 4.

    Co-deliver: while the patient needs to take action following the three previous phases, telemedicine can support D@H clinical staff to monitor the progresses, and help or guide the patient whenever needed.

The D@H co-production and co-learning cycle, inspired by Elwyn et al. [11], is described in the following Fig. 1.

Fig. 1
figure 1

D@H co-production and co-learning cycle. The framework is adapted from Elwyn et al. [11]

Full size image

Co-production of the healthcare remote service and continuous learning stand so as the two main theoretical and practical building blocks of the D@H program, which results and tools are to be shared with the healthcare community, contributing to shaping the oncological healthcare system in the time to come. While telehealth visits are seeing a dramatic increase in oncology and other clinical disciplines, the co-production and co-learning aspects may even have an impact on the future of postgraduate medical training.