Question

Kiasha Johnson, 4 years old, is being seen today for suspected otitis media. The physician decides to delay prescribing antibiotics to see how the child does in the next day or so. The patient's mother doesn't understand why her child is not given an antibiotic. How could you help reinforce the physician's recommendations and document the patient education intervention? Be sure to use correct terminology in your explanation.

Answer 1

Antibiotics prescription wouldn't be a fair assessment for this case considering that it's unclear if the otitis media is caused by an infection and and if it is an infection it could still be viral.The antibiotics could be harmful if taken unneeded leading to bacteria increasingly resistant to treatment as well as harming the healthy intestinal flora.