Otitis media: diagnosis, management, and judicious use of antibiotics.

Otitis media continues to present a major challenge to practitioners in the clinical setting. With the ever-increasing trend toward the use of a sound research-structured approach to health care and the use of evidence-based guidelines, it is important to have an understanding of these findings related to otitis media. A review of research-supported literature regarding the diagnosis and management of this disease, and suggestions for the judicious use of antibiotics, are presented in this paper.