About
Dr. Bellew serves as the Assistant Medical Director for the Prisma Health - Greenville Memorial Hospital Emergency Department as well as the Graduate Medical Director of Quality Improvement for the Prisma Health Upstate Emergency Medicine Residency. She holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine Greenville. Dr. Bellew completed medical school at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida and went on to complete her residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In addition to serving as chief resident, Dr. Bellew was the first emergency medicine resident to be awarded an academic title, Instructor of Emergency Medicine, at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Bellew was recognized by the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine with the 2016 Resident Academic Achievement Award. After completing residency, Dr. Bellew earned a MPH from Vanderbilt University while completing a fellowship in research as well as the VA Quality Scholars Fellowship Program. Dr. Bellew currently is an active peer reviewer for the Annals of Emergency Medicine and was named one of the Top 50 Peer Reviewers in 2022. In 2023, in partnership with the Clemson University Department of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Bellew conducted an educational research project examining the effect of an intervention on early pregnancy loss counseling in emergency medicine residents. This work is accepted for publication. Dr. Bellew's interests include patient and clinician education, quality improvement, patient-physician communication, diagnostic reasoning, and the use of technology in medicine.
How their research is transforming health care
Dr. Shawna Bellew has three main research interests: First, she is interested in the use of data as an engine for and a way to evaluate clinical process improvement. Her involvement spans in a variety of ongoing improvement efforts and has previously published work examining the effect of process redesign in opioid use disorder care, the use of an emergency department observation unit for patients with atrial fibrillation, and interfacility transfer communication. Secondly, Dr. Bellew is interested in the use of research to answer clinical questions and controversies. Her previous work has focused on diagnostic tools, such as clinical decision frameworks for atrial fibrillation, predicting rapid response activation, and diagnostic testing in pneumonia. More recently, she is working on examining the relationship of iodinated contrast and acute kidney injury. Third, Dr. Bellew finds interest in the effects of educational interventions, particularly those involving technology/multimedia, on patient care. In 2023, she conducted a study examining the effect of a brief intervention on emergency residents’ ability to care for patients with early pregnancy loss. Going forward, she aims to explore the use of educational multimedia in patient education in addition to clinician education.
Health research keywords
Emergency medicine, Quality improvement, Healthcare improvement, DiagnosticClinical reasoning, Emergency department operations, Clinical education, Patient education performance,
