Pediatric Telephone Advice

Dr. Schmitt's book on Pediatric Telephone Advice is the best book around for all of us child-health amateurs (that is, parents). It's easy to use to look things up fast, it has a terrific no-nonsense style, and best of all, we already know what they'll say if we call the doctor's office asking for help. A couple of times we've called and said "Schmitt says, 'see the patient within sixteen hours.'" The nurse on the phone always says, "OK, just a minute (flip flip flip), oh, yes, so it does, can you come in at eight-thirty?" The book isn't completely jargon-free, but the jargon the book uses isn't very obscure, and it does help the new parent understand the increasingly complex health care system as well as how sick the little one is. This is a great gift for new parents--I think of it as the shop manual for the new baby.

Another standard textbook at triage call centers across the country. Dr Schmitt's expertise in the telephone assessment of pediatric patients is outstanding. Have used these guidelines -- they are wonderful.