Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences & Hospital, Osudu, Puducherry - 605502
Caring for children, Overuse of health services, Deciding on treatments, Children’s health ,

It is still difficult for healthcare to prevent unnecessary tests and treatments which is one reason campaigns like Choosing Wisely have been launched globally. The goal of this movement is to have clinicians use scientific studies to help prevent unnecessary treatments. Recommendations about excessive health screening aid in improving how practices and quality management are run. This study aimed to discover the most common and significant clinical challenges from pediatric medical overactivity in different areas so as to build a shared list of Choosing Wisely recommendations.An online questionnaire was completed by health professionals working with children from various regions. Participants were asked to score 18 specific examples of medical overactivity. Members of a strategic advisory group working with a major pediatric organization developed these examples. A Likert scale of 1-5 was used by participants to indicate how frequent each example was in their work environments and how important it was to solve by improving practices. In all, 2,716 clinicians participated in the survey, with most people having over 10 years of experience. Nearly all of the respondents (89%), were pediatricians or trainees. More than anything, the reported cases of medical overactivity included giving cough and cold drugs, using inhaled treatments for bronchiolitis, using antibiotics through veins for fixed periods, giving antibiotics to children with uncomplicated ear infections and using antibiotics on newborns with no signs or symptoms. Relating to the impact on practice change, the five main issues plus other examples of antibiotic overuse were ranked among the top ten. People also often expressed concern about testing for food allergies with IgE in babies with no related symptoms and about giving infants with reflux too many acid-suppressing medicines. Key areas where pediatric overdiagnosis and overtreatment occur such as with antibiotics, various respiratory treatments and certain diagnostic tests, have been identified in the findings. Learning from these insights helps make better recommendation for Choosing Wisely suggestions that focuses on caring for young patients

7 , 2 , 2017