Quality Assessment of the Clinical Practice Guideline for Tympanostomy Tubes in Children

ObjectivesTo determine the association between the introduction of statements 6 and 7 in the 2013 clinical practice guideline (CPG) for tympanostomy tubes in children and the identification of preoperative middle ear fluid (acute otitis media / otitis media with effusion [AOM/OME]) in children undergoing bilateral myringotomy and tube (BMT) placement.Study DesignCase series with chart review.SettingTertiary care children’s medical center.Subjects and MethodsPatients who underwent BMT for recurrent AOM were retrospectively reviewed. We examined 240 patients before (BG; 2012) and 240 patients after (AG; 2014) the introduction of the CPG.ResultsThe baseline characteristics of the 2 groups were comparable. The total annual number of BMT placements performed at our institution decreased from 3957 (BG) to 3083 (AG). There was no significant increase in the rate of preoperative AOM/OME identification following CPG introduction (BG 78.3% vs AG 83.3%, P = .164). The rate of identification of AOM/OME in the operati...