About Current Care Guidelines

Updated 5.12.2022

Current Care Guidelines (Käypä hoito -suositukset) are independent, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. These national guidelines cover important issues related to Finnish health, medical treatment as well as prevention of diseases. The guidelines are intended as a basis for treatment decisions, and can be used by physicians, dentists, healthcare professionals and citizens.

The guidelines are developed by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim in association with medical specialist associations. An expert committee and the Current Care Guidelines editorial team are responsible for producing these publicly funded guidelines. Both medical professionals and patients are consulted when developing the guidelines.

Who are we?

The Current Care Editorial staff comprises part-time editing doctors (Current Care editors), information specialist, technical editors participating in content production, editors compiling patient versions and educational material and secretaries.

The Current Care Board directs the operations of the Current Care editorial office, and includes members representing a range of interest groups and Duodecim’s management.

What do we do?

We produce national, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in support of health care decision making and for the benefit of the patient.

Concise and easy-to-read guidelines support doctors’ practical work and form a basis for compiling regional care programmes. Furthermore, these guidelines are applicable to medical practise in Finland. As such, they may include well-founded comments on significant health care issues for which no scientific evidence is available. The guidelines can be used to improve the quality of care and decrease inconsistencies between treatment practices.

The Finnish Medical Society Duodecim is founding member of Guidelines International Network (G-I-N).

How do we operate?

The Current Care Board selects the topics covered by the Current Care Guidelines, mainly based on suggestions made by specialist associations. These specialist associations operate as the host association for the guideline in question, in partnership with Duodecim. PRIO-tool is used for prioritizing new guideline topics.

First, an experienced professional information specialist conducts a systematic literature search.

Current Care working groups (including approximately 1 400 volunteer health care top professionals from a range of fields across Finland) produce guidelines in cooperation with Current Care editors, who operate as method experts. The guidelines are compiled based on the available evidence, and the most important recommendations are reasoned with evidence summaries.

Prior to its completion, the guideline is circulated to specific interest groups for their consideration, after which any resulting comments are discussed and the guideline edited and specified, if necessary.

In support of the guideline’s implementation, summaries, patient versions, and Powerpoint slide series (selectively) are drafted.

Completed guidelines and updates are communicated as appropriate.