Imke Scheepers: Don’t Worry if You Don’t Know

Originally published in the June 2022 AMCP Foundation Impacts e-newsletter. 

By: Imke Scheepers, PharmD, PGY1 Managed Care Resident

AMCP Foundation welcomed two pharmacist residents for a rotation this spring. Imke served as a 2021-22 resident in the Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Managed Care Pharmacy Residency at Premera Blue Cross in Seattle. 
 
Looking back at this past year of residency, there is one thing I know for sure: There has never been a time in my life when I have been more unsure of myself, but learned so much. 
 
Throughout pharmacy school, many of us have similar experiences: exams, quizzes, labs, mock patient encounters... and the list goes on and on. The one common factor for all of these is that you are given time to prepare. There are lectures that you know you’ll be tested on, there’s an outline to help you understand, and study guides to ensure you have grasped the key concepts. And if you asked me a year ago if I was prepared for a PGY-1 managed care residency, you would have heard a resounding yes. I was president of my school’s AMCP chapter, took a few pharmacoeconomic courses, participated in multiple AMCP Foundation P&T Competitions, and interned at a pharmacy benefits manager. I knew I would learn a lot during residency, but I felt like I had a solid foundation from which to build.  
 
Like many of us, I had always been a good student. For the most part, if a professor called on me, I could answer. Even if it wasn’t perfect, it was close enough. And it allowed me to be confident that I (at least mostly) knew what I was talking about.  

And then I got to residency. Suddenly people were asking me questions that I wasn’t prepared for, but also questions that I didn’t understand and wasn’t even sure had a right answer. For the first few months, it was somewhat disheartening; constantly not knowing can be exhausting. And then I realized what a huge benefit it truly was.  
 
I was surrounded by mentors, leaders, and changemakers in the health care space that challenged what I thought I knew and introduced new concepts that I didn’t even know I didn’t know. There will never be another time in your career when your only purpose is learning. Once I moved past the initial feelings of inadequacy, I realized that I could embrace the learning experience, seek out more unfamiliar opportunities, and ultimately enrich my residency with different perspectives by asking the right questions.  

I encourage all students and future residents to take full advantage of every learning opportunity and become comfortable being unsure, asking questions, and not being afraid to say the wrong thing. I used to think confidence came from being sure you knew the right answer; I quickly learned that confidence could also mean that you don’t know the answer but are eager to learn more about it.  
 
So, don’t worry if you don’t know! Residency will give you all the opportunities to learn, as long as you're not so afraid of being unsure that you’re unable to take advantage of all the opportunities in front of you.

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