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 :

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.