THE D.E.B. CARD FOUNDER - RGN Debora Smith

My name's Debora Smith 

and I’m the creator and designer 

of the D.E.B. Card System.  

I’ve been a Nurse for over 25 years 

and have for as long as I’ve been 

studying, developed cards for myself. 

My memory, like many people, has 

always left me forgetting parts of 

information. So what started as note

 writing became developing 

bullet-point cards.

My original cards were written out by

hand and laminated for practicality.

 Once learnt, I’d pass them on to students, newly qualified nurses and other staff. 

As I progressed and moved jobs I created 

new designs for different areas and 

advanced information. As my 

career developed, the more 

I studied. The more cards I created, 

the more I recognised their benefit,

 no longer just for me. I was asked 

by others to create duplicates.

The simple concept just grew. 

At the age of 30 I decided to learn 

British Sign Language. Once again the 

DEB card System helped me through all 

the exams and new terminology. As my 

career developed so did my family. 

Five children later (all with ADHD 

and/or Autism) and my Art Framer 

husband  (profoundly Deaf,  with 

ADHD & Autism) learning and 

studying took on a new perspective!

I worked during my career as a Nurse,

 in A&E, Elderly Care, on film sets, 

in Specialist Biologics, and Sexual 

Health Clinics. I have worked in 

Education outside of Nursing as a 

Sign Language Communicator 

in work settings and in colleges. 

The variation taught me so much about education and the learning process. 

I found the best way to consolidate any learning was for it to be fun, inventive, memorable and most of all... easy. 

 DEB Bullet-point cards fit that criteria.

 I now find myself in the role as an 

Ophthalmic Nurse and Infection 

Control Department Link, and 

through my learning, teaching, 

developing and family’s varied

ways of retaining information, 

I finally realised the value of 

what I'd created.  Then began the 

process of developing the DEB Card 

and designing the many options to 

show how varied and diverse 

they could be.