Health examination (HealthStart)
First-year students will receive an invitation to a health examination comprises
- the HealthStart questionnaire and
- if necessary, an appointment with a public health nurse and/or oral health professional.
If you have started completing your first degree at an institution of higher education, the HealthStart questionnaire will appear in the Self online service within your first academic year. After completing the HealthStart questionnaire, you’ll receive feedback on the state of your health and may be referred to health promotion services provided by the FSHS.
What is HealthStart?
The health examination for first-year students begins with the HealthStart questionnaire. The aim of the questionnaire is to help you and healthcare professionals check your health status and refer you to the appropriate services as early as possible at the beginning of your studies.
The HealthStart questionnaire examines your physical, mental and social health, as well as the key aspects of your health behavior and factors affecting your health, health behavior and ability to study.
If your answers indicate a need for an appointment, you will be referred to an in-person or remote consultation. You’ll be informed about a possible appointment or receive instructions on how to book an appointment within four weeks after completing the questionnaire. Together with the possible appointment time you’ll also receive a booking permission that you can use if you need to reschedule the appointment for a more suitable date.
How to complete the questionnaire
- As a first-year student you can fill in the HealthStart questionnaire in the Self online service. The questionnaire will be available to you soon after you started your studies.
- If you have updated your contact information in Self, you will get a personal invitation by SMS.
- Even if you don’t receive an SMS invitation, you´ll find the HealthStart questionnaire in Self if you have started your first university degree this academic year.
- You will get an appointment or instructions on how to book an appointment, if you need a personal visit based on your answers from the health questionnaire. You will be able to see the information about the appointment or your time booking permission in Self. You will be informed by SMS if you update your contact details in the Self online service, AND give us permission to send you text messages related to your conduct of business with us.
- Once the HealthStart questionnaire is available to you, it will stay on your home screen in the Self online service until the end of the academic year or until you complete it. After you’ve completed the questionnaire, it will be shown in the Services section.
A tip: Read more about the Self online service
Rescheduling or canceling an appointment
If you cannot make it to your appointment, please remember to reschedule or cancel it no later than one full day (24 hours) prior to the appointment. If you do not arrive to your appointment nor have rescheduled it or cancelled it on time without an acceptable reason, you will be charged the fee for an unattended appointment.
We recommend reading more about canceling and rescheduling an appointment here.
The FSHS has a statutory duty to perform a health examination for first-year students, i.e., to conduct a health questionnaire and, if necessary, to offer students an appointment with a healthcare professional. The health questionnaire was renewed in the beginning of the year 2022.
