Ng pediatric cases of Campylobacter jejuni [21]. Due to several infrastructural and logistic shortcomings, management of diarrhea in developing countries like India, till date mainly depends on history, clinical examination and physician’s acumen. Limited research has ever been conducted in India on rationality of diarrheal management by healthcare providers. The situation seemed to be worse among vulnerable populations like urban slums where lack of social security, poor hygiene, very high population density and diverse health-seeking behavior (only 47.6 diarrheas being treated by qualified ABT-737MedChemExpress ABT-737 practitioners in urban slums of Kolkata) of the residents seemed to have the potential for further complicating the scenario [22]. Accurate information on prescription habits of the practitioners in these areas regarding rationality of diarrheal management and their predictors seemed to be the need of the hour to design efficient and target-specific intervention programs to ensure rational diarrheal management.Methodology Ethics statementPrior to the interview, details of the study were explained to the practitioners in a language that they understand completely and voluntary written informed consents were obtained from each and every subject maintaining confidentiality as per the standard national guidelines. Data were securely preserved with confidentiality. The study content and procedures were order ABT-737 approved (No. C-48/2011-T E) by the Scientific Advisory Committee and Institutional Ethics Committee of National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata.DesignA cross-sectional study [23] was conducted between May 2011 and January 2012, involving a random sample of all allopathic practitioners treating diarrhea in urban slums of eight randomly selected (from altogether 141) administrative units (municipal wards) of Kolkata, India to determine the distribution of rational management of diarrhea and to identify its predictors.Eligibility criteria1. Adults prescribing allopathic medicines to diarrhea patients in the selected wards (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 59 and 66) for at least last six months were eligible. 2. Did not have any physical/mental condition that prevented proper communications 3. Provided written voluntary informed consent in favor of participationPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0123479 April 7,3 /Rational Management of DiarrheaSample size and recruitmentInitially from the list of 141 administrative wards of Kolkata, 8 wards (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 59 and 66) were randomly selected. Then with administrative and community support, by obtaining lists of practitioners from community based organizations of practitioners like local nonqualified practitioners’ association and the local branch of Indian Medical Association and conducting physical visits by trained community health workers to each clinic (Governmental and private), health centers and pharmacy of the study area in addition, an exhaustive list of 360 eligible qualified and nonqualified practitioners including pharmacists who were prescribing allopathic medicines to diarrhea patients for at least 6 months in the 8 selected wards, was prepared and a unique identification number (UID) was assigned to each of them. Detailed sample size calculation was mentioned elsewhere [23]. Briefly 266 practitioners were required to be interviewed for the estimation of diarrhea-related knowledge and practice of the practitioners using information (variance for knowledge) from the pilot p.Ng pediatric cases of Campylobacter jejuni [21]. Due to several infrastructural and logistic shortcomings, management of diarrhea in developing countries like India, till date mainly depends on history, clinical examination and physician’s acumen. Limited research has ever been conducted in India on rationality of diarrheal management by healthcare providers. The situation seemed to be worse among vulnerable populations like urban slums where lack of social security, poor hygiene, very high population density and diverse health-seeking behavior (only 47.6 diarrheas being treated by qualified practitioners in urban slums of Kolkata) of the residents seemed to have the potential for further complicating the scenario [22]. Accurate information on prescription habits of the practitioners in these areas regarding rationality of diarrheal management and their predictors seemed to be the need of the hour to design efficient and target-specific intervention programs to ensure rational diarrheal management.Methodology Ethics statementPrior to the interview, details of the study were explained to the practitioners in a language that they understand completely and voluntary written informed consents were obtained from each and every subject maintaining confidentiality as per the standard national guidelines. Data were securely preserved with confidentiality. The study content and procedures were approved (No. C-48/2011-T E) by the Scientific Advisory Committee and Institutional Ethics Committee of National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata.DesignA cross-sectional study [23] was conducted between May 2011 and January 2012, involving a random sample of all allopathic practitioners treating diarrhea in urban slums of eight randomly selected (from altogether 141) administrative units (municipal wards) of Kolkata, India to determine the distribution of rational management of diarrhea and to identify its predictors.Eligibility criteria1. Adults prescribing allopathic medicines to diarrhea patients in the selected wards (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 59 and 66) for at least last six months were eligible. 2. Did not have any physical/mental condition that prevented proper communications 3. Provided written voluntary informed consent in favor of participationPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0123479 April 7,3 /Rational Management of DiarrheaSample size and recruitmentInitially from the list of 141 administrative wards of Kolkata, 8 wards (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 59 and 66) were randomly selected. Then with administrative and community support, by obtaining lists of practitioners from community based organizations of practitioners like local nonqualified practitioners’ association and the local branch of Indian Medical Association and conducting physical visits by trained community health workers to each clinic (Governmental and private), health centers and pharmacy of the study area in addition, an exhaustive list of 360 eligible qualified and nonqualified practitioners including pharmacists who were prescribing allopathic medicines to diarrhea patients for at least 6 months in the 8 selected wards, was prepared and a unique identification number (UID) was assigned to each of them. Detailed sample size calculation was mentioned elsewhere [23]. Briefly 266 practitioners were required to be interviewed for the estimation of diarrhea-related knowledge and practice of the practitioners using information (variance for knowledge) from the pilot p.