Your Clinical Question

Case:

You examine a five-year old Asian American female, Junko Morioka, in your office and determine that she is suffering from Acute Otitis Media. Her mother mentions that Junko seems to get these ear infections every once in a while and that sometimes they ‘just go away’ and other times Junko seems to need antibiotics. Junko’s mother is worried about Junko developing a resistance to all these antibiotics and wonders aloud if antibiotics are really necessary.

Here are two well-formulated clinical questions that a physician might research based on the case above.

  1. Among children with Acute Otitis Media, does treatment with oral antibiotics result in significant improvements in symptoms, and reduction in complications of AOM, as compared to no treatment?
  2. OR, to what extent does treating children with AOM with repeated oral antibiotic therapy promote antibiotic resistance?

 

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