What technique should be used to position the ear for children over 3 years when administering ear medication?

When administering ear medication to children over the age of three, it's important to position the ear correctly to ensure that the medication is delivered effectively to the eardrum. The correct technique involves pulling the upper part of the ear up and back.

This positioning straightens the ear canal, allowing the medication to travel through it more effectively. The ear canal in older children and adults is more angled compared to infants and toddlers. By pulling the ear up and back, this action aligns the ear canal in a manner that enhances the delivery and absorption of the medication, ensuring that it can reach the targeted area.

Other techniques, such as pulling the ear lobe down and forward or the upper part of the ear down, do not appropriately align the ear canal in children over three years of age, which can hinder the effectiveness of the medication administration. Keeping the ear flat does not provide any necessary adjustment to facilitate the entry of the medication into the ear canal properly. Therefore, understanding the anatomical differences in children's ear canals at various ages is crucial in executing the correct technique for ear medication administration.