Kela, Omakanta, Pension

Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, is an institution that promotes the health and independent survival of Finnish citizens by managing basic social security for people living in Finland in different life situations. I have had contact with Kela at various stages of my life. When I studied to become a radiographer, I received student financial aid and housing allowance from Kela. I have also used private health care services, such as a dentist and an ophthalmologist, and received Kela reimbursement for their services. During my working life, I have had two surgeries that required sick leave after the operations. After both operations I returned to work with partial sickness allowance. Being able to work part time contributed to my recovery by allowing me adequate time to recover but at the same time it allowed me to return to work as soon as possible. In connection with my current studies, I recently paid the health care fee for higher education students at Kela. Paying the fee through Kela’s own online service was easy enough and entitles me to use YTHS services. I have carried a Kela card in my wallet since my youth (and I haven’t lost it once!) but I did not get a European Health Insurance Card until now. The card complements my travel insurance whenever I’m abroad.

Omakanta is a digital service where you can view your health data regardless of time and place. Logging in requires strong authentication and can be done with banking credentials, for example. Omakanta shows your healthcare visit records and different test results. It is also easy to check the validity of prescriptions and vaccinations there. Nowadays, information from private healthcare providers is also stored in Omakanta.  This is a definite improvement because it improves access to information and guarantees the continuity of care.

My pension insurance company is Ilmarinen. According to the estimate for someone my age, the lowest possible retirement age for an old-age pension is 66 years 10 months and the target retirement age is 68 years 9 months. If the target retirement age is reached the monthly amount of the pension will increase by 275 euros.

Digital shopping

Buying from online stores is easy and hassle-free. These days most of the clothes and cosmetics I buy, I buy online. Sometimes to save time I also do my grocery shopping online. I always read the reviews of the online store and the terms of the delivery they offer before I shop at new online store. Boozt.com is a familiar online store to me and shopping there has always gone well. The selection is good, and the products are often more affordable than in local stores. Reviews from customers can be seen right on the front page and this inspires confidence. For comparison, I visited Amazon´s online store, which I have never ordered anything from. A huge range of products just attacked my eyes, but information about delivery fees and ordering practices turned out very difficult to find. Even now, the site does not tempt me to shop there. Even though I can easily find everything I need at an online store, I also try to support local shops. Especially Finnish brands that use sustainable practices in their production and ideally manufacture their goods locally. I also buy a lot of secondhand products from online flea markets and from traditional ones.  I have actually promised myself that I will only buy secondhand clothes for myself this year.

MRIsafety.com

When working in MRI, safety is paramount and should be taken into account by both radiographers and patients. Metal objects are not allowed inside the MRI room under any circumstance. The magnetic compatibility of possible foreign objects inside the patient`s body must also always be established before starting the imaging. One of the tools to do so is the MRIsafety.com website where you can find a lot of useful information. On the site you can also see examples of what will happen if metal accidentally ends up in the MRI room. As a radiographer, I find the site very useful. Of course, in addition to MRIsafety.com, other sources are also used to determine the presence of foreign objects and, if necessary, we can always get assistance from a physicist. 

Healthcare´s digitalisation and digital divide

Digitalization is an increasingly integral part of modern healthcare. Digital services support patient self-care and allow patients to monitor their own health data. However, despite the ease this brings to self-care, it should be remembered that it is still up to healthcare professionals to make the initial diagnoses. On top of this, not all people have the opportunity, knowledge, or desire to use digital services, but nevertheless they are still entitled to the same level of care as their more tech-savvy counterparts. Digital health services are at risk of increasing inequality and digital exclusion. Access to treatments may be complicated or delayed with patients who do not use digital healthcare services. Digital transactions also reduce social interactions and authentic encounters that we all need. For some, the digitalisation of services causes stress and concern, while other see it as providing new opportunities.

Digital competence test results

I felt that my digital competence was at a basic level but after taking a digital competence test my test results showed that my competence level is actually slightly better than average. The sections of the test where my competence level was the highest were security (76%) and information management (74%). This was a pleasant surprise as these aspects are especially important in my everyday work. On the other hand, production value was the section where I received the lowest score (53%). This did not surprise me. I do not produce digital material in my work and even in my spare time my contributions are limited to occasionally publishing images on social media. I also know that my computer skills are not the best. In my opinion, digital competence is an ongoing journey and there is always room for improvement.

What I have learned?

This exercise helped me to analyse my own digital behavior and to look more critically at the sites I use. It also pushed me to take care of overdue practical matters, such as getting a European health insurance card and checking my own estimated retirement age. I must admit that the estimated retirement age for someone my age was a bit of a depressing discovery! But what was interesting to discover was the level of my own digital competence and to be able to examine it in more depth in the form of a test. The whole exercise made me think about the digitalization of healthcare in more detail. It sparked insights into how I, as a healthcare professional, might be able to help to prevent digital exclusion.

I commented these blogs:

https://blogi.savonia.fi/iinavaisanen/digi-citizen/

Hi Iina, It is great that you can take advantage of meal benefit offered by Kela daily. It is a major advantage for us students. Unfortunately, there is no cafeteria in my place of work where I can take advantage for that benefit. I have the same kind of over- cautions attitude towards logging in to Omakanta as you do.  Warnings about scam sites have therefore been understood.

https://miha110.wordpress.com/digi-citizen/

Hi Minna, Your great blog will tempt you to read. I agree with you that older people are not on an equal footing in our rapidly digitising society. I work in healthcare industry myself and at times I am pleasantly surprised by their digital skills. Older people are most likely to notice that they would rather deal with a nurse than a robot.

https://tuomaslipasti.wordpress.com/digi-citizen/

Hi Tuomas, Your thoughts about online stores and their reliability are very similar to mine. I have often found it worthwhile to read reviews and compare prices. You described booking.com very comprehensively. At times, I have used it myself and found it convenient. However, I can see that for some reason I don`t do as much price comparison as I do for other purchases. I intend to pay more attention to this in the future.