In the article, “More Than Acute Otitis Media” Dr. Greg Rebella discusses how an accurate ear exam made a critical difference in the care of a pediatric patient. A 20 month old male was misdiagnosed with bilateral ear infections during the COVID-19 pandemic. His actual diagnosis was far more worrisome…
The tympanic membranes (TMs) are normal with no evidence of erythema, bulging, loss of bony landmarks or middle ear effusion. This is not consistent with acute otitis media (AOM).
This is an interesting and timely case given the Covid-19 pandemic (November 2020). It also provides the opportunity to highlight a couple of important points pertinent to the ear exam. The first point is that we have all found ourselves in a situation where an examination of the tympanic membranes (TMs) is suboptimal and thus our assessment likely to be less accurate.
Click here to read the article “More Than Acute Otitis Media” at WiscMed.com
Dr. Rebella joined Emergency Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health as a pediatric emergency sub-specialist physician. He is currently the Director of Education for the Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. In addition to his focus on education and simulation training, his primary research interests include sports-related trauma and injury prevention.
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