Abstract:
Oral rehydration solution plays a major role in the management of diarrhoea at the
home setting. Though the effectiveness of oral rehydration solution is proven, the
benefit depends on proper usage. This in turn depends on the practices of caregivers.
The study aimed to assess the prevalence and the practices of oral rehydration solution
usage among caregivers of inpatient children. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study
conducted among 316 caregivers of children in the paediatric medical wards of Sirimavo
Bandaranayke Specialized Children Hospital and professorial paediatric ward of Teaching
Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. A pre tested self-administered questionnaire in preferred
language was used to collect data. Data were anysed using IBM SPSS version 25.0.
Chi-square test and frequency tables were used to describe the findings. The prevalence
of oral rehydration solution usage during the past six months was 62.04%. Out of all,
29.4% had poor while 70.6 % had good practices in oral rehydration solution usage.
Among all caregivers, 51.3% had never used oral rehydration solution without getting
medical prescriptions. The majority had always used boiled cooled water to prepare
oral rehydration solution (68%), stored it at room temperature (53.5%), discarded it
after 24 hours of its preparation (63.9%), and washed hands before preparing the oral
rehydration solution (67.4%). Nearly 30% had always initiated Oral rehydration solution
administration after the passage of loose stools >2 times and had oral rehydration solution
packets at home although their children did not have diarrhoea. 81.6% of the caregivers
had never prepared home-made oral rehydration solution when an oral rehydration
solution sachet was not available. The practices of the caregivers were associated with
relationship to the child, educational qualifications, and ethnicity (p< 0.05). Although
more than 70% had good practices in oral rehydration solution usage, there is a
misconception that medical prescriptions are needed to take oral rehydration solution.
Education about homemade oral rehydration solution, and initiation of oral rehydration
solution is recommended. Having an oral rehydration solution sachet at home should be
encouraged among caregivers although their children don’t have diarrhoea.
