Patients presenting with an acute diarrheal illness is one of the MOST common chief complaints in primary care. They’re also typically worried, wondering if they need antibiotics AND usually want some sort of testing.

My last episode was part one of assessing this chief complaint, and I focused on the important history questions, physical assessment and the most important risk factors and triage components. Definitely go back and check that out if you haven’t already here: https://www.realworldnp.com/podcast

In this week’s episode though, I’m covering:

• The most common presentation to watch out for in primary care
• What types of stool testing there are, and why you’d order them
• The most common pathogens you’re looking for, and how to order them
• Guidance for patients looking for antibiotics (and if they’re appropriate or not)

Here’s the reference I mentioned with the printable table! It’s a few years old but it’s free! Up-to-Date also has a great table resource but I don’t have rights to share unfortunately :) https://www.aafp.org/afp/2014/0201/p180.html#afp20140201p180-t1

Read the blog post here.

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