Acute gastroenteritis makes one of the commonest causes of dehydration in children, and Parents’ education remains a vital part of its management. 

A recent study assessed the efficacy of discharge instructions in the pediatric emergency department for parents of children with acute gastroenteritis, along with assessing disease prognosis and parents’ satisfaction.

This study included parents of children with acute gastroenteritis, along with mild-to-moderate dehydration; who were interviewed upon their child’s presentation and in follow-up phone calls after 1 week, to evaluate the parents’ knowledge and the disease’s prognosis.

The results were as follows-

• The study enrolled 218 parents of children with acute gastroenteritis along with mild and moderate dehydration.
• The mean age of the children was found to be 4 years and 1 month ± 3 years and 7 months.
• 44% of study participants contained reasonable awareness of their child’s condition, and 86% of the patients showed full improvement.
• 54% of the parent showed exact adherence to instructions.
• 13% of children returned to the emergency department.
• 98% of the parent showed satisfaction and appreciated the provided education.

Thus, not strictly obeying fluid rehydration plans in discharge instructions did not negatively affect the course of improvement in this population, indicating that giving simple instructions to rehydrate with any fluid a child might accept and giving clear red flags for observation may be sufficient to treat gastroenteritis of mild-to-moderate severity.

Cureus. 2022;14(3): e23240. doi:10.7759/cureus.23240