Acute otitis media – Emergency management in children

Read our clinical guidelines for treating a child with symptoms of acute otitis media (AOM).

How to assess and manage middle ear disease

We use the Otitis Media (OM) Guidelines. These help us to prevent, diagnose and treat Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children or children who are high-risk who have middle ear disease or hearing loss.

You can read the Otitis Media Guidelines on the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care website or order a printed copy.

You can also download the Otitis Media Guidelines app on the Apple Store or Google Play Store. These give you free access to best practice recommendations you can use offline.

The PLUMS and HATS website has free tools and checklists you can use to assess if a child needs to be referred to an allied health professional.

Deadly Ears services

Our program offers the following clinical services for children under 16 with chronic ear disease and related hearing difficulties.

  • Face to face specialist clinics and surgery
  • Nurse-led clinics with ENT teleotology
  • Audiology
  • Speech pathology
  • Occupational therapy

Using our service

We have clinical services in the following areas. You can refer your patient to our program if they live in one of these areas or close by.

  • Thursday Island
  • Northern Peninsula Area
  • Palm Island
  • Mornington Island
  • Doomadgee
  • Normanton
  • Mt Isa
  • Woorabinda
  • Cherbourg

Deadly Ears referral criteria

Any health professionals including doctors, nurses, audiologists and health workers who work with ears can refer children to Deadly Ears if they have any of the following conditions.

  • Persistent Otitis Media with Effusion - parental report, evidence of, or documented history of OME lasting several months
  • Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (persistent discharge through a tympanic membrane
  • Dry perforation
  • Cholesteatoma - any suspicion of, or signs of attic retraction or persistent retraction
  • Tympanostomy tube (grommet) otorrhoea
  • Acute Otitis Media - recurrent episodes without or with perforation/discharge
  • Hearing loss - suspected or confirmed hearing loss in the presence of middle ear disease

Use our WHO HOW guide to help you decide which specialist service your patient needs and how to refer them. You may need to refer your patient to Hearing Australia or another health service instead.

Referring your patient

If you're referring your patient to us and you work for Queensland Health, you can email the referral form to DeadlyEars@health.qld.gov.au.

If you’re a private clinician, fax the form to 07 3310 7810.

Help us promote ear and hearing health

Learn how you can help prevent middle ear disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families on the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care website. They also have free brochures, activity books and other resources you can order.

Stay up to date

The Indigenous Health Info Net website has current research, programs and articles about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ear health.

If you're a health professional, you can find free online and face to face training in middle ear disease, otoscopy, tympanometry and audiology on the visit Ear Train website.

Last updated: September 2023