title: Oral rehydration therapy--qualitative studies of balance between pragmatism and scientific rigour in managing diarrhoea.
abstract: In the experience of the author, oral rehydration therapy has proven effective at home, in the ambulatory and in the institutional care setting. A series of anecdotal reports on the successful use of oral rehydration on refugees, in famine and poverty, on medical students, prisoners, and the well-off people of western countries, is presented. The essential principles of oral rehydration are identified and we show how these can be adapted to a particular health care setting. A clear understanding of local attitudes and beliefs about diarrhoea is essential to professional health workers if they are to act as agents of change.
authors.affiliation: Spezialarzt für Kinder und Jugendliche FMH, Einsiedeln, Switzerland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ueli
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D003906:Developing Countries; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000628:therapy*; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D012036:Refugees