An efficient knowledge transfer through computerized guidelines was not achieved. Usage, individual learning and potential implementation depend on adequate incentives and pragmatic aspects of clinical practice: easy and quick access.

Continuing medical education is important and necessary. Thus far, new media still have a minor role among the relevant educational media for primary care physicians. The introduction of modern information technologies may become more successful if primary care physicians' preferences are better understood and education tools are designed according to these preferences.

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Acute Otitis media is one of the most common acute respiratory infections managed in primary care and the most common infection among in children. Diagnostic criteria, however, do not always correspond to scientific evidence. They often differ depending on individual preferences and competences. Treatment, also, is controversial. In Germany, most children attending their pediatrician or primary care physician will be prescribed antibiotics. Evidence from several randomized studies and systematic reviews suggests that routine usage of antibiotics provides only modest benefit. The benefit of prescribing antibiotics should not only be balanced against the increased likelihood of side effects such as diarrhoea but also against the potential to contribute to longterm antibiotic resistance.

No abstract