Clinical Prediction Rules: Challenges, Barriers, and Promise

In this issue of Annals of Family Medicine, an article by Stam and colleagues focuses on the derivation and validation of a clinical prediction rule (CPR) aiming to predict which older people presenting with dizziness to their primary care physician will be more likely to have a poor prognosis.1 Dizziness is somewhat common in primary care and can be debilitating, diagnostically challenging, and difficult to treat.2 This CPR has potential to aid clinical decision making by tailoring treatment to older people at high risk of experiencing a poor outcome. Despite the great promise of CPRs, however, questions remain about whether their use will eventually lead to improvements in care delivery or improved outcomes for patients