Digital Services like Kela, MyKanta and Keva
Our life have become increasingly digitalized and many everyday services have moved online. The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) is one of those services. Kela provides support at different stages of life, such as being a student, in military, family life, sickness and retirement. It also offers service in various life situations including self-employment, housing allowances, moving to or from Finland, disabilities and rehabilitation. Personally I have used Kela’s services as a student. Kela provided me a financial support like study grant and student loan. When I graduated within specific target time, Kela paid me back part of my student loan, which was a big thing for me as a student.
I work as a nurse so I’m familiar with MyKanta (OmaKanta). This service has transformed healthcare because patients can now easily access their own treatment records, request prescription renewals and check their vaccination history, to name a few of the features. This gives patients more control over their treatment, as they can check their health data easily on their phone for example. It is also important for people to know about the possibility to save their living will and organ donation testament in MyKanta. Another valuable thing of MyKanta is the ability to manage data usage by reading the information about data protection and security and adjusting consents and refusals. It is a simple and effective way to stay in control of one’s own health data.
Keva (Public Sector Pensions) was a new service for me. Since I’m still quite young, I haven’t given much thought to retirement yet. I signed into Keva’s website and explored around. The website provides a lot of useful information about their service and pensions. I found out that my retirement age is 68 years old. The longer i work, the higher my pension will be. It is quite overwhelming to think that i will need to keep up with working life and new developments in my field until almost the age of 70.
Digital Shops vs. Local Finnish Retailers
It is common for people these days to shop online because it’s perceived to be easy, fast and affordable. But is that really the case?
I compared the prices between Amazon, eBay and a few local Finnish retailers. Amazon and eBay are quite similar in that they both offer a selection of products at a different price points. Also the shipping time and fees vary significantly between products. It can be deceiving to see a cheap item on these platforms, only to realize that the shipping fee is as much as the item itself.
Personally, I find these enormous online shopping platforms confusing and unreliable because it is often difficult to compare products properly. Important factors like the full price are not always clear at first sight. The quality of the products might not be as good as those from local Finnish stores. That’s why it’s important to check reviews and ratings before making a purchase, though some reviews may be fake.
While some products, like phone cases or screen protectors, may be cheaper on eBay or Amazon, buyer needs to be more careful when making a purchase. Reading reviews, checking the total price and understanding that the shipping time might not be accurate. It is also crucial to use a secure payment method, especially with unknown sellers, because there is a higher risk of getting scammed online than in a local Finnish retailer.
Shopping online can offer some great deals if carefully assessing products and understanding online shopping security measures. However, these cheap products often lack in responsible standards like fair working conditions. Buying from a well-known Finnish retailer is usually faster, more reliable and ensures better quality, but the price is often higher as well.
Duodecim Terveysportti
Duodecim Terveysportti is a platform that provides evidence-based guidelines, medical data and diagnostic tools, making it a important recourse for me as a nurse. I chose Terveysportti for this assignment because it offers reliable, up-to-date information that supports decision making. It is important for healthcare professionals to have quick and easy access to research-based data so that we can check medication dosages and treatment protocols making sure that patients are treated with the latest medical knowledge. Without these types of platforms, professionals would have to search information themselves by using books or various data bases, leading to outdated information being used and inconsistencies in treatment plans.
With Terveysportti, almost all the medical data we need is in one place. The platform requires a subscription as it’s primarily intended for professional use. I find Terveysportti user-friendly and it saves a lot of time by making my work more efficient. Given the amount of information on the platform, improving the navigation on the platform would be a great development step.
The Risks of the Digital Gap
Digitalization and technology offer convenience and efficiency for many people but not for everyone. The digital gap refers to people who doesn’t use digital services and face challenges in their everyday lives because of that. One of the difficulties for non-digital users accessing to essential services like healthcare. Many banking services, appointment bookings and healthcare platforms have moved online resulting to non digital-users needing someone to handle these everyday tasks for them or are left with limited options. Most customer service interactions take place online or via email rather than over the phone or physical locations, which creates challenges to access these services.
Another aspect of the digital gap is social isolation. Nowadays people stay connected via messaging apps, emails and social media. Elders or other people who are not using these apps may find them self feeling lonely and disconnected from others.
It is important to provide accessible alternatives for non-digital users, such as the elders, so that they can remain being an active part of society. Another thing is a effective digital education to ensure that people can keep up with the development of digital services and feel confident using new digital tools. Significant reason for avoiding digital devices is fear and uncertainty, which creates resistance to change. Learning about digital services should be made easy and engaging so that people feel motivated to learn about and use them.
Self-Reflection
This assignment was a pleasant recap of different online services. Most of them were familiar to me, except for Keva, but it’s always helpful to refresh my knowledge and practice writing about these topics in English as well.
The Digital Competence Test was new to me and gave me a lot to think about. I already have quite strong digital competencies in communication and information management but I still have room for improvement in areas of digital production like automation for example. I also believe that learning about cybersecurity is never truly finished and the test gave me a good reminder to be more mindful of it in my everyday life.
As a digital citizen, I often use these digital services automatically and assume that I can easily keep up with the new developments. In reality with the fast advancements of AI and other parts of digitalization, it is important to actively remind myself to stay informed and adapted to these changes.
My Comments
Please feel free to read more of my thoughts on this topic from the blogs mentioned below.
OmaKanta is indeed a great service for patients. It allows easy access to one’s health information, even via a mobile phone. It is true that it is important for people to know about the possibility to save their living will and organ donation testament in OmaKanta. This option should be highlighted more to the public.
I’m glad you mentioned the shipping costs of online stores. It’s true that the product itself may be very affordable, but shipping fees can significantly increase the total price. The reliability of online stores is also questionable at times. Product quality might not always match the description. Choosing a secure payment method is very important, as you said, because the risk of being scammed online is much higher than in local stores. I also want to highlight the issue of fair working conditions in cheap online stores—they are often questionable.
I myself also use Duodecim Terveysportti a lot in my work and free time. It provides evidence-based treatment guidelines that may not be available elsewhere. This research-based information helps to unify care practices, which is very important.
Hi Saaga,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the rest of us. I can relate to your thoughts on achieving essential services, including banking services. I have an example from my own life. I was once signing up for a bank service when my codes were blocked. I contacted the bank to get a new code table. The problem was that my passport had expired and I could not reliably verify my identity. When I made an appointment with the police department online, the problem was that I did not have bank codes. I had to go to the police department to queue to renew my passport without making an appointment. After getting my passport, I only got to the bank to verify my identity and then I got new bank codes. All of this took three weeks and during that time I also had to go to the bank to check my bills.
Hi!
It was nice to read your thoughts about OmaKanta. I personally find it easy to use and I think it is good to have my own health information conveniently in one place. And like you said, you can easily update your consents regarding your own health information there. I hear some feedback from customers and people I know that it is not easy to find all the information there. This also shows that there are many different levels of users of digital services and therefore it is important that services are constantly developed.
I like Duodecim Terveysportti a lot, I use it every day at work. In healthcare work, it is very important that information is up-to-date and easy to find. I agree that it makes working more efficient and handier. I also think it’s good that there’s a lot of news about the latest research and health recommendations that professionals can utilize in their practical work.
Here is a link to my page if you want to hear my thoughts on this section:
https://blogi.savonia.fi/laurikainensini/digi-citizen/
-Sini-