Practice guidelines to manage children admitted in a general pediatric department with very mild or mild acute infective diarrhea

• Published in: Minerva pediatrica Vol. 51; no. 6; p. 221
• Main Authors: Colombo, M, Porrati, T, Magni, L A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Italian
• Published: Italy 01.06.1999
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Bacterial Infections - complications; Diarrhea - diagnosis; Diarrhea - microbiology; Diarrhea - therapy; Italy; Pediatrics; Severity of Illness Index; Italy
• ISSN: 0026-4946

A clinical-anamnestic card is proposed to gather the main minimal parameters which allow to monitor the course of children with severe or mild acute infective diarrhoea admitted to a pediatric department. This method has been verified through a back-evaluation of the data collected in our clinical-anamnestic cards throughout a period of seven months, and found it useful and appropriate. This case-record includes very mild or mild acute infective diarrhoea (corresponding to a loss lower than 10% of total body weight) in pediatric age children hospitalized in a general pediatric department. The clinical-anamnestic card is divided into five parts coinciding to five different clinical stages of the disease; during each stage, the essential anamnestic and/or clinical data necessary to a correct medical and nursing approach to the children affected with infective acute diarrhoea are recorded. The use of this card is also a good way to engage physicians, nurses and children's parents too, to pay attention to the substantial factors necessary for a correct management of the disease. The evaluation of these clinical-anamnestic cards led to the following general conclusions:--to keep body weight unmodified from the day of admission to the day of discharge--to use very seldom milk without lactose--to keep children on a very short term diet in order to quickly restore intestinal function, to increase body weight and to discharge children in few days.