New Book Offers a Year`s Worth of Pediatric Education

There's no question that smartphones, tablet devices and applications have given instructors the tools to make education both entertaining and engaging. Can a book compete with all that technology? If that book is Peds Pearls: Tear-Out Tips, Tricks & Treasures from the Trenches, then the answer is a resounding yes!

In this new publication from pediatric emergency nurse expert Scott DeBoer, you will find a year's worth of pediatric education that is both a feast for the eyes, as well as the brain. Made up of 52 educational posters, Peds Pearls is chock full of information on pediatric emergency care presented in such a way that both students and veteran providers will be both engaged and entertained. Each poster can be removed from the book and posted on bulletin boards, in break rooms, or anywhere personnel congregate. The posters feature information, graphics and fun cartoons to reinforce the educational experience.

I recently sat down with Scott, who is the primary seminar leader for Pedi-Ed-Trics Emergency Medical Solutions, LLC, to discuss how the book came about.

Nancy: Can you describe the book for our readers?

Scott: It is 52 full-color, short and sweet posters of the best pediatric tips and tricks from experts who wished someone had told them this stuff when they started in EMS.

Nancy: How did you get the idea for the pull-out posters?

Scott: I’ve never seen anything like a tear-out poster book full of medical tips in my nearly 30 years of nursing. So how did we get the idea to create it? Well, next to our bed, my wife Lisa has a notebook of ideas. She wakes up and writes things in it. Some ideas we try and some we don’t. I’ve given her a hard time for years with what I usually call, “another one of her crazy ideas.” Now that Peds Pearls is done, I may have to stop calling them “crazy ideas” because I love it and it seems other people really do too.

Nancy: How did you decide which pearls made it into the book?

Scott: After treating and transporting pediatric patients over the years, I've found that many people are really scared of sick kids. Providers are very comfortable when it comes to big people, but the smaller the kid, the higher the stress. For Volume I (the first 52), we incorporated many of the commonly addressed medical and traumatic issues that are encountered in EMS, the ER and transport settings. I had my thoughts as to topics and was blessed with really smart contributors and editors who lent their insights as well.There were so many that 52 made the first volume, Volume II (the next 52) is written and with the editors now, and we are actively seeking submissions for Volume 3!

Nancy: What was the process for writing up the pearls and then working with the designer for each poster?

Scott: After working as a flight nurse for nearly 25 years, I started writing short peds pearls for our past seminar attendees and would e-mail them as a marketing tool for our pediatric education company. Then I had docs, nurses, medics and RTs send me some ideas of their best peds tricks or tips. If someone else wrote one, I would read it and then play with it; if it sounded too technical, I either rewrote it or left it out completely. I had to feel that each one of the pearls could be presented and understood as if I were speaking at a conference to a diverse emergency audience.  I originally had about 30 pearls, but one of our editors—and my most frequent co-author—Michael Seaver, had a vision. He said you have 30, if you create 22 more, then people would have one per week. It was a brilliant idea and the 52 pearls for 52 weeks idea was born! The design for each poster was a combination of my wife Lisa’s original vision and our designer Gaby Baez who recently started with us at Pedi-Ed-Trics. They would take the Word documents I’d send and just run with it. Lisa’s only “strict” guidelines for the book, which we kept to, was that it each poster has to be easy to read, fun to look at, something emergency medical professionals really need to know and it CANNOT be boring.

Nancy: How do you suggest educators can best use the material in the book?

Scott: Each page is something new they can post in break rooms, on bulletin boards, or even the employee bathroom stalls! We’ve been trying to make learning a little more enjoyable by adding humor to such a serious topic like peds emergencies for years with our live seminars so we wanted to carry that into the book. Educators have often told us they are looking for creative ways to teach, so we tried to make something inexpensive and creative to do just that. Peds Pearls is a book you can tear apart and use over and over, offering memorable and real-life pediatric education on $1 per week!

Nancy: What is your favorite pearl in the book?

Scott: Ha, ha..it has to be poop! How could you not love mixing peds cardiac emergencies & poop into a pearl?

Peds Pearls is available for ordering here.

Meet Scott at EMS World Expo, October 3–7 in New Orleans, LA, where he will be presenting on pediatric trauma and pediatric medical emergencies, as well as hosting a hands-on cardiac dissection lab. Register today at EMSWorldExpo.com.