- Oral Rehydration Salts are the first-line, inexpensive, and life-saving treatment for Diarrhoea.
- Wagner Z et al conducted Randomized controlled trials in Karnataka and Bihar to evaluate the three explanations for not receiving ORS in childhood Diarrhoea:
- Provider’s perception of the patient’s dislike of ORS.
- Financial incentive as a cause for prescribing antibiotics by provider.
- Stock-out of ORS.
- Wagner Z et al standardized participants (trained actors) as fathers of 2-year-olds with diarrhea.
- They were randomized into three groups expressing :
- Preference for ORS
- Preference for antibiotics
- No preference
- The study found that:
- 28% of providers prescribed ORS in case of no preference.
- 55% prescribed ORS on expressing ORS preference. (27 percentage points higher)
- Ensuring no stock-outs led to a 7 percentage points higher provision of ORS.
- Misperception of the healthcare provider about the patient’s preference explained 42% of ORS underprescribing.
- The study provides evidence that rectifying the provider’s perception can help increase the prescription of this life-saving simple treatment.