The most frequent reason pediatricians prescribe antibiotics to young children is for an ear infection (acute otitis media). With increased concerns about high rates of antibiotic use and resistance, recent guidelines suggest consideration of "watchful waiting" for some ear infections to see if they resolve without antibiotics. Previous studies have shown that many ear infections do resolve on their own.
"Careful observation by pediatricians and parents, sometimes called 'watchful waiting,' would be a dramatic shift in treatment for a very common illness in childhood," said Jonathan Finkelstein, associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Finkelstein and colleagues conducted a study, reported in the June issue of Pediatrics, which indicates a wide range of attitudes among parents and physicians about the watchful waiting method.
Finkelstein, also a staff physician at Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues surveyed more than 2,000 parents in 16 Massachusetts communities, asking parents, pediatricians, and family physicians to assess the current use of watchful waiting and to determine the acceptability of this option to parents. A majority of physicians (63 percent) reported at least occasionally using initial observation, but of those, a scant 6 percent use it frequently.