Defining a clinical prediction rule to diagnose bacterial gastroenteritis requiring empirical antibiotics in an emergency department setting: A retrospective review.

We suggest using the BGE scoring system (cut-off ≥ 5 points) to delineate the need for empirical antibiotics in patients diagnosed with gastroenteritis. While this is a pilot study, which will require further validation with a larger sample size, our proposed decision-making rule will potentially serve to improve the diagnosis of BGE and thus reduce unnecessary prescription of antibiotics, which will in turn reduce antibiotic-associated adverse events and save on costs worldwide.