Riskipotilaat

Riskipotilaat is a Finnish term used in health care to describe patients who have an elevated risk of adverse health outcomes. The category encompasses individuals who are more likely to experience hospital admission, complications, functional decline, or death, due to factors such as multimorbidity, frailty, polypharmacy, chronic disease, advanced age, or social determinants of health. It refers to a risk level or profile rather than a single diagnosis, and is used to prioritize care and allocate resources within health and social services.

Identification and tools: Health professionals identify riskipotilaat through risk assessment and stratification, using clinical data, past health events, and functional status. Common inputs include age, number of chronic conditions, medication burden, recent hospitalizations or emergency visits, living arrangements, and support networks. In many systems, formal risk scores—such as comorbidity indices or care-urgency scores—support decision making, alongside clinician judgment.

Management: Interventions for riskipotilaat emphasize coordinated, proactive care. Approaches include intensified primary care and case management, multidisciplinary home visits, early post-discharge follow-ups, medication review to address polypharmacy, preventive measures, vaccinations, and, when appropriate, telemonitoring or home-based palliative care. The goal is to prevent avoidable admissions, maintain functional ability, and improve quality of life.

Considerations: The use of risk categories can improve care planning but may raise concerns about stigmatization, data privacy, and equitable access. Tools and thresholds should be validated for the local population, and decisions should involve patients and caregivers.

See also: risk stratification, chronic care model, polypharmacy, frailty, care management.