When parents ‘resist’ viral diagnosis or ‘no treatment’
recommendations in consultations for RTIs, this is often perceived
by clinicians as pressure for antibiotic treatment [33] which can
influence clinicians to prescribe [34]. However, our study reveals
that the main reason parents find a viral diagnosis inadequate is
because they feel it fails to explain seemingly severe or worrying
symptoms, i.e. there is a mismatch between their diagnostic
expectations and their understanding that viral illness is minor.
Similarly, parents’ dissatisfaction with a no-treatment recommendation
was often because they expected treatment to relieve the
symptoms and suffering of the child, so again there was a
mismatch between parent’s treatment expectations and the ‘no
treatment’ recommendation received. This may partly explain why
clinicians overestimate parental expectation of antibiotics [3]