Episode 52 - Dr. David McSwain - Transforming EHR: From Burden to Benefit - Part II

In this episode, Dr. Sara Helvey speaks with David McSwain, MD, MPH.  Dr. McSwain is the system Chief Medicine Informatics Officer for UNC Health and Professor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at UNC Children’s Hospital.  Dr. McSwain completed his MD, MPH in Health Policy and Administration, and a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at UNC Chapel Hill.  He also completed a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at Duke University and earned his Board Certification in Clinical Informatics in 2021.  He has many notable career accomplishments, including creating one of the first Pediatric Critical Care Telemedicine programs in the country and founding the South Carolina Children’s Telehealth Collaborative.  In addition, he is the recipient of the 2018 American Telemedicine Association Champion Award, awarded to one individual in the country who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in the advancement of quality telehealth practice, policies, and adoption at the local, state, national, or international level.  

During our conversation, we examine the struggles that the electronic health records (EHR) and its users have experienced over the years.  Particularly as it relates to provider burnout, we discuss how the EHR has contributed to this and how we can use it to reduce burnout and make charting easier for providers.  We also discuss the current state of EHR’s in terms of advancements, achievements, and future areas of growth.  We talk about Dr. McSwain’s experience navigating these challenges and how UNC has been working to improve the electronic health record so that it can be seen as a tool that improves patient care.    

Resources for UNC Residents: 

Information on SmartUser Training

SmartUser is an online training program hosted by Epic that helps providers leverage their user settings and covers more than 140 Epic tips and tricks. The course is free and available to all providers who are live with Epic. To start, send your specialty champions and provider super users so they can keep their skills sharp and share what they learned with other providers. For more information about these courses, refer to the SmartUser FAQ document.

Provider Coaching Session: 

The UNC ISD Clinical Informatics Team provides coaching sessions for increased efficiency in Epic@UNC.  Here is a link to place a Provider Coaching Session if residents or fellows would like to sit down 1:1 with a Clinical Informaticists to personalize Epic@UNC.