Reference no: EM133694706

Question 

A 22-year-old female came to the neighborhood health center complaining of tenderness, redness, and swelling over the mastoid area. The patient said she started having ear pain about two weeks ago and thinks she has a fever and some drainage out of her right ear. Since neither the patient nor her parents had health insurance, she did not go to a physician's office or to the emergency department of the local hospital. The physician was certain the patient had acute right mastoiditis as a result of her untreated acute otitis media on the right side that was still present. An initial antibiotic was prescribed and a sample of the otorrhea fluid was taken for culture. The patient was referred to the university medical center's ENT clinic for follow-up in one week. The diagnosis written by the health center physician on the referral form was "acute right-sided mastoiditis and acute purulent right otitis media."