Awareness of antibiotic resistance is important

Prescribing antibiotics for otitis media and other upper respiratory tract infections became 'standard' practice in an era when complications from such infections were relatively common and potentially serious ( National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2008). However, there is little evidence for the efficacy of antibiotics in managing otitis media (Venekamp et al 2015) and this, along with concerns about increased antibiotic resistance and adverse drug reactions, provides a powerful incentive to examine antibiotic use.