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