# Authors

## Who is Doctor Schmitt?

Barton Schmitt, MD, FAAP is a pediatrician, clinician, educator, writer and pioneer in telephone triage and advice.

**Authorship Highlights:**

- Author of five integrated sets of clinical content for use in software:
  - Pediatric After-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines for healthcare organizations and medical call centers (1994-present).
  - Pediatric Office-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines for health systems and office practices (2000-present).
  - Pediatric Care Advice; end-of-call instruction handouts for parents on over 400 common pediatric health problems (1990-present).
  - Pediatric Symptom Checker; web-based and mobile self-triage and self-care guides for parents (2000-present).
  - SymptomScreen; priority screening guides for scheduling agents and front desk staff (2020-present).
- Author of more than 100 articles and books for physicians, nurses, and parents.
  - The first book on telephone triage, Pediatric Telephone Advice, 1980.
  - Pediatric Telephone Protocols – Office Version. 17th Edition, 2021. American Academy of Pediatrics Publications.
  - Two award-winning child care books for parents; My Child is Sick!, 2021 and Caring for your Sick Child, 2023; AAP Publications.
- Honors received from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
  - Anderson Aldrich Award for contributions in Child Development, 1994.
  - Education Award for contributions in Pediatric Education, 2004.

**Academic Career Highlights:**

- Faculty, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 1970-2023. Now retired and Professor Emeritus.
- Medical Director, Pediatric Call Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado, 1988-2019. Continues to serve on Quality Improvement Committee.
- Attending Physician, Child Health Clinic for Residents, 1970-2023. Continues to teach pediatric residents in the clinic setting.
- Medical Director, Diagnostic Dilemma Clinic, 1974-2019.

**Education:**

- Degree in Chemical Engineering, Yale University
- Medical Degree, Cornell University Medical College
- Pediatric Residency, University of Minnesota Hospitals
- Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics

## Who is Dr. David Thompson?

David Thompson, MD, FACEP is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine.

**Highlights:**

- Strong interests in the areas of telehealth triage, quality improvement, patient satisfaction, consumer self-care and digital health, including:
  - Development of symptom checker, health bot, consumer engagement, natural language processing, and telehealth applications.
  - Development of databases and educational tools to promote quality improvement for medical call centers and emergency departments.
  - Benchmarking work with medical call centers, aggregating data from more than 6.5 million telephone triage calls.
  - Over thirty years of clinical emergency medicine experience and emergency department leadership positions.
  - Chair and/or member of hospital based and national quality assurance committees.
  - Chief Medical Information Officer for ECI Healthcare Partners, providing strategic guidance and leadership in the areas of technology, medical coding, compliance, and education.
- Author of two integrated sets of clinical content, for use in software:
  - Adult After-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines for healthcare organizations and medical call centers (2000-present).
  - Adult Office-Hours Telehealth Triage Guidelines for health systems and office practices (2000-present).
- Author of Adult Telephone Protocols: Office Version 5th Edition (2021) published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- Additional writing and speaking:
  - Author of numerous medical articles, with several in two fields of special research interest to him: patient satisfaction and chief complaint coding.
  - Lectures in the areas of telehealth triage, quality improvement, medical coding, and patient satisfaction.

**Education:**

- Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Illinois
- Medical Degree, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago IL
- Board-certified in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine
- Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians