Muhammad Naeem, Malik Shahid Shaukat, Muhammad Shahid Iqbal, Fayyaz Atif.
Appraisal of General Practitioners in the Management of Acute Watery Diarrhea for Children Under 5 Years of Age.
Esculapio J Services Inst Med Sci Jan ;7(4):1-5.

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 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 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. A statistically significant difference was observed between qualification of GPs, experience as GPs, knowledge regarding WHO guidelines, attend course 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.

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