A recent study in Science Advances sheds light on why antibiotics are still being overprescribed for pediatric diarrhea in India. Spoiler alert: it’s not ignorance—it’s assumptions. Researchers examined over 2,000 standardized patient visits across 2,282 providers in Karnataka and Bihar and found a striking “know-do gap.” In other words, doctors and other healthcare providers often know better but do otherwise. The numbers are eye-opening. Around 70% of providers gave antibiotics even when no bacterial infection was indicated—most childhood diarrhea is viral, after all.
Even more surprising, 62% of those who knew antibiotics were unnecessary still prescribed them. Knowledge deficits were not the main culprit; closing these gaps would only reduce inappropriate prescribing by a mere 6 percentage points. Bridging the know-do gap, however, could slash it by 30 percentage points. Who are…
