Clinical Decision Support for Pediatric Diarrhea—Expectations and Evidence in Diagnostic Stewardship

colleagues. 1 Diagnostic stewardship was incorporated as a goal for the Transatlantic Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, and with its inclusion in the newly released Core Elements of Hospital Diagnostic Excellence, 7 perhaps we will see an increased awareness of the risk of overdiagnosis leading to overtreatment.In their qualitative study, Jones et al 1 evaluated motivations behind seeking care for pediatric diarrhea, parental expectations for diagnostic testing, and perceptions of CDSTs, highlighting shared goals and opportunities for better communication.They found that parents of children with diarrheal illness seek reassurance, understanding of illness etiology, and treatment guidance.Clinicians aimed to meet these expectations but faced conflict between desire for testing and the limited clinical utility of test results.Clinicians generally supported CDSTs for evidence-based care, while parents were concerned that CDSTs may impede critical thinking and were less aware of the harms of overtesting.These findings suggest that adapting CDSTs to incorporate parental expectations could facilitate patient engagement in the diagnostic process and increase acceptance of CDST-informed decisions.Such discussions might also raise awareness of the potential harms of overtesting.These insights are relevant not only to diagnostic stewardship in pediatric diarrhea but also to the broader field of diagnostic stewardship in general.