Management of acute watery diarrhea in children below 5 years, reported practices by general physicians of Lahore, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Two hundred and sixty two randomly sampled general physicians of Lahore were interviewed to study the current practices and factors affecting the management of acute watery diarrhea in children below 5 years of age in comparison with the World Health Organization [WHO] guidelines. Among the physicians, 19.1% said they would prescribe ORS alone 60.7% ORS with some drug, 14.9% drugs alone, and 5.3% increased fluids only. Physicians in government sector as compared to private sector, physicians trained in a paediatrics unit as compared to not trained in a paediatrics unit, and recent graduates as compared to older graduates reported they prescribe more in accordance with the WHO guidelines [p< 0.05]. No statistically significant relationship was found between reported prescribing according to WHO guidelines and attending a diarrhea training unit [DTU] course, reading WHO guidelines for management of diarrhea and total number of parents seen daily. Physicians were more likely to report that they prescribed according to WHO guidelines if they believed that mothers were satisfied with ORS. Two hundred fifty five [97.3%] physicians thought that the majority of other physicians prescribed drugs for the management of acute watery diarrhea. The most commonly cited reasons were because they want to satisfy the mother of the children and physician's belief in the effectiveness of drugs and competition in practice