Department of Traffic Medicine

People who need assessment of driving ability are being examined and evaluated at our clinic.
We are the only clinic in Finland to offer traffic medical research and multiprofessional assessment. For this, a referral by a physician is needed.

The driver does not always have to come to the reception if only a second evaluation or follow-ups are requested from the sending clinic. As a rule, we will try to contact you before a driving lawsuit, for example, by phone.

Responses are always sent in writing to both the driver and the referring physician.

The clinic is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays during office hours.

An outpatient clinic fee will be charged for the visit.

Client visits 

You will receive a letter inviting you to a Clinic with information on the time of your visit, detailed instructions and some questions about your previous health history.

Please reserve 1-2 hours for your first visit to the Clinic and 3 hours if you are scheduled for a neuropsychological examination.

Take your driving license with you to the clinic. We need to check your identity upon your arrival.
For more information, contact the nurse telephone number, which will be answered daily at 14-15.

Investigations

Assessment of driving capacity (in Finnish)

See also

Epilepsy and ability to drive (Terveyskylä.fi, in Finnish)

Existing driving license regulations require a comprehensive assessment of the person's driving health criteria. On January 9, 2015, a multidisciplinary assessment centre was opened into the Turku University Hospital. The clinic is needed to assess the problematic driving ability.

The hospital's specialized clinics are studying the patients' ability to drive from the point of view of individual illnesses. However, sometimes there is a need for a multiprofessional approach to assessing the person's ability to drive. The clinic has an expert meeting that meets regularly. Experts come from all the specialized clinics needed for the driver's license and the specialist in traffic medicine is always present.

Assessment of driving ability in specialist medical care

Most health checks are carried out without any problems in primary health care and occupational health care doctors. At the University Hospital of Turku, specialists in special medical care make daily evaluations of the patient's ability to drive. Now the hospital can also provide multidisciplinary expert discussions in the field of traffic medicine to solve drivers' driving health criteria.

Our most important patient groups are professional drivers, especially those working in road and rail transport. Another important customer group is young adults with chronic illnesses approaching the driving license age.

Studies at the clinic

We provide services for patients whose driving health criteria need to be evaluated. The service is provided to both professional and car drivers. It is a referral clinic, sending mainly from occupational health care or a health centre. In a clinic, patients are studied individually and, if necessary, evaluated in a multiprofessional working group. The clinic does not provide medical care, we will evaluate the driving license.

External actors, such as an employer or an insurance company, can send patients into a clinical evaluation with a commitment. We do not provide services to self-sufficient drivers.

Research costs for professional drivers will be paid on behalf of a person's home municipality. Patients from other provinces can take advantage of the freedom of choice or the local purchasing service.

Opinions and cooperation

The Department of Traffic Medicine works in the same premises as the Occupational Medicine Clinic. The traffic physician evaluates the incoming reports and plans further studies at the Traffic Clinic. It can often be answered directly by written feedback.

If necessary, we will arrange special studies such as neuropsychological evaluation. Patient registers include patient visits, inquiries, and expert meeting decisions.

The customer always receives a written statement from the expert team and the consignor receives consultation responses.

We work with the University of Turku in the fields of research and education. Several studies on traffic medicine are in progress, in cooperation with, inter alia, Traf and the Ministry of Transport. We are applying for CoE status for 2019. We are Finland's first and best-performing unit.

We provide consultancy services for the healthcare professionals in the field of traffic medicine. Submissions can be sent either by mail or by e-mail directly to the patient recoding system.

The purpose of this service is to support basic and occupational healthcare providers in situations where it is difficult to assess a driving license for health reasons.

The basic instructions and frequently asked questions on these pages will help you start your customer evaluation in your office.

References to the clinic

After the patient's basic assessment, the physician can prepare a referral to the clinic in accordance with the instructions below.

Getting Started (in Finnish)

Requests for inspections or consultations may be submitted electronically if the party concerned is connected to the hospital's patient’s electronic file system. Always consultations gets corresponds to a specialist in traffic medicine.

We use safemail tyopkl(a)turvaposti.fi
This mail allows you to send patient data safely in the form of electronic files. You can also send us an encrypted email with a web form.

Please send us a password using a security e-mail by calling or sending a text message (SMS) to 050 388 6380.

Through customer approval, documents are sent to designated recipients.

Criteria for referral

• Cases with multidisciplinary problems, in other words problems that one specialized clinic cannot solve; If the problem is related to one particular area, send the patient directly to that specialty, eg sleep apnea suspected of the lung disease clinic.
• Assessment of the need for further studies.
• To get an expert opinion on the decision of a physician pending. This can be done through consultation of a dossier or when dealing with a matter for an expert working group.
• Driving license changes or disputes here
• Clients living in municipalities outside the hospital district (the clinic directs clients either to inquiries or to an expert meeting).
• Requests by certain authorities.

Business Types

Normal reception. Includes up to 60 minutes of medical work, nursing examinations and basic assessments or delivery of results by telephone or personally to the clinic.

Demanding reception. Visit takes a minimum of 90 to 120 minutes of medical work, specialist medical examinations, 1-2 specialist consultations, submission of supplementary inquiries and ordering of documents.

Multidisciplinary team. Approaching the meeting, ordering documents, 5-8 specialists (including a specialist in traffic medicine) and a written statement.

Written consultation. Written answer from a specialist in traffic medicine to a doctor's question.

The customer's home city is billed for these visits.

Payer

Usually it is the referring party that is the payer. The referring party may be one of the open care clinics of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland, a health care centre, an occupational health clinic, a private physician or a resident outside the catchment area of the Clinic.

The costs for examinations of professional drivers are covered by the person's municipality of domicile. Persons living outside the specific catchment area of the Clinic need to have a commitment of expenditure issued by the health care centre of the person's municipality of domicile. Commitments of expenditure from the person's employer or insurance company are also accepted.

Commitments of expenditure from the person's employer or insurance company are also accepted.