Appraisal of General Practitioners in the Management of Acute Watery Diarrhea for Children Under 5 Years of Age

Abstract

Objective: To appraise general practitioners in the management of acute watery diarrhea for
children under 5 years of age and to identify various factors contributing to current practices of
general practitioners for the case management of diarrhea.
Material & Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 380 general
practitioners (GPs) selected through simple random sampling from the list of GPs working in the
private sector of Lahore city Their knowledge and practices regarding management of AWD for
the children under 5 years of age was determined by using semi structured questionnaire and
data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.
Results: Of the 380 GPs working in the private sector of Lahore city, 339 (89%) were males and
41 (11%) were females. GPs with MBSS only prescribed 2.3 ± 1.6 drugs /prescription whereas
pediatricians with minor diploma prescribed 1.9 ± 1.6 drugs/prescription. Astatistically significant
difference was observed between qualification of GPs, experience as GPs, knowledge regarding
WHO guidelines, attending courses at DTU and their prescribing trend for ORS, antimicrobials
and anti-diarrheals, and zinc.
Conclusion: The dearth in the knowledge of GPs pertaining to the latest protocols elaborated
by WHO and UNICEF has unearthed a dire need for their continuous medical education under the
stewardship of the Government of Pakistan by allocating essential resources to update the
information level of GPs catering medical services for almost 80% of community.