About the Guidelines

The 2020 OM Guidelines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have been prepared by a group of experts in the field of ear and hearing health and bring up-to-date the Department of Health’s “2010 Recommendations for Clinical Care Guidelines on the Management of Otitis Media in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Populations”. They have been created following the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

The 2020 OM guidelines provide recommendations for prevention, diagnosis and management of all forms of OM, including episodic OME, persistent OME, AOM without perforation, AOM with perforation, dry perforation, and CSOM, plus tympanostomy tube otorrhoea (TTO). The overall objective of the 2020 OM guidelines is to prevent OM and improve detection and management of OM and associated hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Australia.

About the Methodology

The methods for search strategies, grading recommendations, determination of quality and confidence, and generation of summary of findings tables used Cochrane Reviews, RevMan 5 (Cochrane Collaboration) and GRADEpro software (https://gradepro.org/).

Download the full 2020 Otitis Media Guidelines summary of findings tables here.

The primary objectives were:

  • To review all the available evidence to March 2017, using the GRADE approach
  • To include pathways for children at low or high risk of treatment failure; and
  • To transform the 2020 guidelines into a user-friendly multiplatform application (app), “OMapp”, with multiple audiovisual features targeting multiple stakeholders (scientists, doctors, specialists, health workers, nurses, researchers, policy makers, children and parents)

The GRADE Approach

Read about the GRADE approach in the desktop version of the Otitis Media Guidelines here.

For more detailed information about the methodology used download ‘2020 Otitis Media Guidelines for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children: Applying the GRADE approach and a transition to an OMapp‘.

About the Team

These Guidelines have been prepared following consultation with experts in the field of ear and hearing health (the Technical Advisory Group, TAG).

The Technical Advisory Group included representatives and members of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons,

the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (adult and paediatric divisions), as well as trainees of these colleges, Aboriginal health practitioners, audiologists, scientists, researchers and consumers.

See the Technical Advisory Group

  • Professor Paul Torzillo MBBS, FRACP, FFICM (Chair), Executive Clinical Director, Royal Prince Alfred Medical Centre
  • Dr Judith Boswell, Adelaide Hearing Consultants (deceased)
  • Dr Christopher Brennan-Jones MAudA, PhD, Head, Ear Health, Westfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute and University of Western Australia
  • Dr Sam Brophy-Williams, Research Officer, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Professor Harvey Coates AO, FRACS, FACS, Paediatric Otolaryngologist, University of Western Australia and Westfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute
  • Ms Kathy Currie, Audiologist, Department of Health, Northern Territory Government
  • Dr Sumon Das MBBS, PhD, Senior Research Officer, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Associate Professor Hasantha Gunasekera MIPH (Hons), FRACP, PhD, University of Sydney and Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • Ms Samantha Harkus, BA, Dip Aud, MPH, Principal Audiologist, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Services, Hearing Australia
  • Professor David Isaacs MD FRACP FRCPCH, Clinical Professor in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Sydney, Senior Staff Specialist, Children’s Hospital at Westmead
  • Dr Katherine Jarosz, Research Officer, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Associate Professor Kelvin Kong, ENT surgeon, Hunter New England Health
  • Professor Amanda Leach AM, PhD, BAgSc (Hons), MAgSc, Senior Principal Research Fellow, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Associate Professor Deborah Lehmann, MBBS, MSc, Honorary Emeritus Fellow, Westfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases,
  • Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia
  • Professor Peter Morris, MBBS, PhD, FRACP, Deputy Head, Child Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Royal Darwin Hospital
  • Ms Sandra Nelson, Aboriginal Health Practitioner, Department of Health, Northern Territory Government
  • Professor Stephen O’Leary MBBS, PhD, FRACS, FAHMS, ENT consultant, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne
  • Professor Chris Perry OAM, MBBS, FRACS, Consultant Surgeon, Deadly Ears Programme, Queensland and Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane
  • Dr Jarod Pak, Research Officer, Menzies School of Health Research
  • Dr Hemi Patel MBBS, FRCS, FRACS, Consultant Surgeon, Northern Territory Department of Health and Families
  • Professor Jennifer Reath MBBS, FRACGP, PhD, Peter Brennan Chair of General Practice, Western Sydney University
  • Professor Peter Richmond MBBS, MRCP(UK), FRACP, Director, Vaccine Trials Group, Westfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute
  • Dr Jessica Sommer MBBS, BSc, Research Officer, Menzies School of Health Research