Student health care

Student health care is provided for students in secondary education institutions and at universities and universities of applied sciences. A special feature of the target group is having studying both as a job and as a stage of life.

Studying requires adequate physical and mental resources, good teaching and a study environment that supports learning. Student health care must promote the student’s ability to work and study by supporting the student’s physical and mental resources, by ensuring a good physical study environment and well-functioning working arrangements, and by paying attention to the well-being of the student community.

The health checks that are carried out during the first year of study can be considered age group or life stage checks, and their content is very similar to a health check performed in occupational health services. Key principles of the health checks in student health care include customer and resource orientation, individuality, equality of the students, voluntariness, lack of urgency and an appreciation for the students.

When health checks are carried out in student health, information is required on the health requirements related to the field of study. In addition to this, labour laws and regulations must also be considered.

The aim of health checks for first-year students is to:

1. Together with the student, discuss his/her life situation, lifestyle, social networks and study as part of their well-being as a whole.
2. Support and strengthen the resources. Detect lifestyle risks and provide guidance and counselling to reduce them.
3. Assess the student’s health status in terms of coping with the studies.
4. Direct the student to services if problems that threaten or impair their functional capacity are found.
5. Plan follow-ups, treatment and rehabilitation for the duration of study when a student has a chronic disease.
6. Determine the rehabilitation and support services required by a student with special needs together with the educational institution and others (a student with special needs is a student who has had partial or a complete adjustment of their studies or a class transfer in primary and lower secondary education or a student who has been designated a student with special needs in postgraduate studies).
7. Determine the need for pregnancy prevention and sexual health advice.
8. Inform about the services provided by student health care.

In secondary level vocational education, at the conservatory and in general upper secondary school, a health check performed by a public health nurse is carried out on all first-year students. A health check by a public health nurse is also carried out for boys of conscription call-up age in Kokkola, usually in the second year.

Students who study more than six months at an institute of adult education are invited to a health appointment if necessary.

This examination is based not only on an interview with the student and an occupational health risk assessment and guidance, but also on health information from primary and lower secondary education.

At the university of applied sciences (business and technology, social and health care, music and performing arts), a first-year student’s health check consists of a health survey and, on based on that, if necessary, an individual health check carried out by a public health nurse.

According to decrees, a doctor’s examination should be organised for students studying in general upper secondary schools or in secondary level vocational education in the first or second year of study. Unfortunately, these cannot be arranged at the moment due to the shortage of doctors.

If a doctor’s examination has been carried out in connection with student selection, due to legislation regarding or the characteristics of the field of study in question, and a doctor’s statement T or equivalent has been written on it, a separate doctor’s examination does not need to be carried out at the educational institution unless a need for it is found in the public health nurse’s health examination. However, a young person’s health certificate written in conjunction with a doctor’s examination in lower secondary school does not replace a doctor’s examination.

There are grounds for a doctor’s examination in student health care for male students in the conscription call-up year. (There is regulation on doctor’s examinations connected to conscription call-up in the Conscription Act 1438/2007).

The doctor’s examination is always carried out in the first year of study for special needs students and students who have a long-term illness or disability affecting their field of study or future profession. The content of the examination should be the same as in examinations carried out in the occupational health service.

The purpose of a health check is to obtain an overall understanding of the student’s health and well-being and to guide the student to make health-promoting choices. Central parts of the examination are looking into the student’s life situation, self-esteem and resources, motivation and risks, willingness to change or the obstacles to change.

The health check also includes supporting the student as they are becoming independent and supporting the development into an adult. Individually, the student’s own issues or problems are addressed, such as neck-shoulder-back symptoms, sleep problems, dating problems, eating problems, “internet addiction,” dyslexia, special issues that immigrant students and foreign students or other students who need special support have.

For example, the following basic health examinations are carried out during a health check:

• measurement of height and weight to establish over- or underweight (including measuring the waist circumference in adults and giving guidance about this)
• a so called Dehko assessment for people at risk for type 2 diabetes
• measuring blood pressure
• haemoglobin
• visual acuity
• a hearing examination
• nicotine addiction test
• a depression/mood test to determine mental well-being
• if necessary, the student will be sent for other necessary laboratory tests

A higher education student must pay a healthcare fee to Kela for both the spring and the autumn term. The student is not sent an invoice. Instead, they must pay the fee on their own initiative.

Mental health is the foundation of human well-being, health and functional capacity. Mental health is shaped throughout the life by individual growth and development.

Under favourable conditions, mental resources increase, and in adverse conditions, they may be worn out more than they are renewed. Communities where youths develop, such as schools and educational institutions, support mental health. Knowledge and skills related to mental health can also be learned.

The well-being of the mind is influenced by many factors:

• individual factors: identity, adaptability and self-confidence
• social factors and factors to do with interaction: family, work, communities and school
• structural factors in society: services and social policy
• cultural factors: prevailing societal values and social criteria for mental health
• biological factors.

Good mental health is a resource that helps people feel their life is meaningful, to enter into and maintain social relationships and to act as productive and creative members of the community.

Sexuality is an inner characteristic of every person from birth until death. It relates to the physical, mental and social self of a person and cannot be separated from the rest of being human. Sexuality is what we are, sex is what we do.

Sexuality includes, but is not limited to, sexual development, biological sex, social gender identity and its corresponding role, sexual orientation, erotic interest, pleasure and intimacy, and reproduction. It is partly invisible and partly visible.

Sexuality is a positive resource of health and well-being and one of the most sensitive aspects of our lives. Sexual activity and desire vary greatly over the course of one’s life and at different stages of life, but they never completely disappear.