Kela and OmaKanta

The task of The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA) is to secure a sufficient livelihood for citizens in various life situations where there are challenges with livelihood. Social security helps, for example, in life situations caused by illness, unemployment, studying or aging. Social security also compensates employers for costs resulting from the employee’s sick leave, family leave or use of occupational health care. I have received study support and housing support for my previous studies of biomedical laboratory technologist, but currently KELA supports my family with child support until they turn 17. I travel with my family quite a bit, so I have already acquired European health care cards to all my family members just for the case if something happens when we are traveling out of Finland.

Social and health care in Finland uses digital services that form the Kanta service package. According to the obligation given by the Law of Customer Data Act (703/2023), public and private social and health services must store customer and patient data in national archives, where Kanta services have been created. Kanta services include OmaKanta, where citizens can see their own health information and prescriptions, for example. I have used Omakanta.fi sites very little, because I have been quite healthy. I have sometimes checked laboratory results and made appointments for healthcare providers, and previously printed an EU corona certificate if necessary. In addition, I have taken care of my own children’s health issues through the transaction on behalf of the Other found in the OmaKanta service. Logging in to OmaKanta is easy through strong identification using a certificate card, mobile certificate or your own bank credentials. By accepting the Suomi-fi identification service, I confirm the correctness of my user data and the transmission of data to the service provider. Foreigner identification methods are also available. You can easily find a lot of health information on the OmaKanta service and it’s easy to read it on a mobile device. During this year, the OmaKanta service will be renewed in stages, with the help of which the functionality and visual appearance of the service will be improved.

Keva

In Finland, KEVA is an occupational pension insurer for employees of the public sector such as the municipal sector, the state, the church and welfare areas, whose task is to take care of the realization of pension security and to reduce the risks of work ability. By logging into the KEVA service with a strong identification, you can view your own calculated retirement age and the euro amount of your pension and make calculations with various calculators. The KEVA service also contains various electronic applications related to pension matters. I had not previously visited the KEVA service and looked at my own retirement age and the size of the accumulated pension, so this task was interesting. The pension calculator does not allow me to make an estimate at the age of 63 because it is not possible according to the system. My current retirement age would be almost 67 years, which seems far away, and the amount of the pension is going to be small level because I have been out of work for several longer periods, when no pension has accrued. On the other hand, I would have more than 20 years of working years ahead of me, and the pension system will certainly undergo major changes during this time, if the entire system even exists when I have retirement ahead of me.

Digital shops

In my own life, I use somewhat different online stores.  I usually buy some clothes and event tickets directly from online stores because it is very easy. If you want, you can get the purchased tickets in the app or by email. When I make travel or hotel reservations, I use booking sites such as Trivago or Booking.com, which search for the most suitable solutions and prices based on my search. Booking websites make it easier to find several service providers in one place, but you often must find out more detailed information directly from the selected service’s own website. Various discounts and loyalty schemes reduce prices if you focus your purchases on the same service provider or operator of the same chain. I usually try to use Finnish websites, but many websites have been translated into Finnish and sometimes it is difficult to identify the origin of the online store. In my opinion, larger global online stores such as eBay or Amazon contain too many products for me, and making purchase choices is really demanding and time-consuming. In addition, you should be careful with freight and customs fees, so that there are no surprises when paying.

All in all, the Online Stores what I have used have provided enough information to make shopping and pay for purchases, so I will continue to use the affordable and user-friendly online stores that I have already become familiar with. The explosive growth of online stores is taking space from brick-and-mortar stores in cities. So, in the future I want also to support these little shops entrepreneurs by buying their products.

Service from my own working field

The Terveysportti website contains versatile medical information needed for practical work in one place, and the websites’ accessibility has been ensured for the various operators of Finnish health care. Sometimes in my work I encounter new things related to the patient’s symptoms, illness or medication and there is a need to find more information. I often look at the Terveyportti.fi website for Käypä hoito- recommendations for various diseases or information about medicines from the drug database. These sites provide a lot of basic information that is reliable, and the sites are constantly updated by experts in the field. As a healthcare professional, I can recommend using this site.

www.terveysportti.fi

Digitalization and digital gap

The effects of digitalization in today’s working life are significant. It has been noticed that not all people use digital solutions in the same way in their work or everyday life. In comparison to people who use a lot of digital technology and the Internet at work, a digital divide can form for people who do not use digital devices at work, have a lack of skills in using digital devices, or do not have digital devices available at all in their lives. If you cannot keep up with digitalization, it might increase the risk of inequality and the risk of marginalization, as well as low participation. There may be many reasons for the situation, but it is important to identify and consider people who need special societal support. Guidance and instructions are needed for users of the services, so that the use of digital services would be easier and part of ordinary life. Reducing the digital divide requires a societal discussion of values ​​and giving support to those who need it, but don’t necessarily know how to ask for it or demand it.

 

Digital competence test and self-reflection

This is my Digital Competence Test result.

I commented three blogs:

1. Eeva-Maija Järvi: DIGI CITIZEN – EEVA-MAIJA’S SITE
2. Päivi Parviainen: Digi Citizen – Päivi´s site
3. Kaisa Kuuppo: Digi Citizen – Kaisa’s Blog

Self-evaluation

There are many situations at work and free time where it’s very natural to use digital devices and programs. Perhaps people don’t always remmber that only a few decades ago things were done differently and often without assistive digitalization. Computers or mobile devices were only used by a few. Digitality has taken its place in more and more different areas of life and there is no end in sight to this development. Still, for example, in my own work, I notice things that are not implemented in the best possible way, even if the programs and softwares has the potential to be used comprehensively. Usually the money talks. For workers it is sometimes frustrating but developing different functions is challenging when resources are limited.

This course has been an eye-opening information package about the digital working environment and put food for thought in writing a blog. My level of knowledge and understanding has grown and deepened. In the future, I will consider the possibilities of digitalization and make good use of them and still remembering the possible risks.