Development and randomized controlled trial of a booklet of advice for parents.

A booklet was developed in the author's practice that provided advice for parents on the home management of cough, fever, sore throat, diarrhoea and vomiting in children, and included specific recommendations about when to seek medical help. The effect of distributing this booklet on the frequency of parent-initiated consultations was evaluated in a randomized, controlled trial. The overall effect of the booklet was a statistically non-significant reduction in consultations for the symptoms that it addressed ('booklet symptoms'). However, this finding masked a statistically significant reduction in daytime home visits for booklet symptoms (especially for cough, fever and sore throat) and a significant increase in out of hours consultations (for fever, diarrhoea and vomiting). Had all the households in the practice been sent a copy of the booklet then it was estimated that over the following year some 28% fewer home visits and some 173% more out of hours consultations would have been undertaken for booklet symptoms than if none of the households had been sent a copy.