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The Residency Corner: Dr. Seohwee “Chloe” Ahn
The Residency Corner:
Featuring Dr. Seohwee “Chloe” Ahn, Current PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident
1. Tell us about yourself and why you decided to pursue a residency.
My name is Seohwee Chloe Ahn, but I go by Chloe. I am a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore, class of 2020. After graduating, I came to the UMES–Apple Discount Drugs to complete my PGY1 residency in community pharmacy. I decided to pursue residency program because I wanted to learn more ways pharmacists can get involved in patient care and gain experience in clinical settings.
2. What attracted you to the UMES-Apple Discount Drugs
PGY-1 residency program?
Before I came here, I had worked in community pharmacy for 7 years for different chain stores. I got to partake in a few patient care programs like MTM (medication therapy management) and vaccine clinics. I wanted to get more involved in these services and get more experience with patient care, and I saw that this program was able to cater to my interest. Another thing that drew me to this program was the residency program director and all of the preceptors. They were very personable and had much to tell me about their program, which made me feel comfortable about moving to Salisbury as the only resident in the program.
3. Can you describe what a typical week is like during residency?
My work weeks tend to be different each week depending on what is going on either at Apple with patient care services or at UMES with teaching responsibilities. I spend 3 to 4 days per week at Apple conducting MTMs, dispensing medications, performing COVID-19 rapid tests, and administering vaccines (including the Moderna and Janssen vaccines for COVID-19). On the other 1 to 2 days per week, I work at UMES on my teaching duties and providing patient education for nursing homes as part of my geriatrics rotation.
4. What teaching experiences did you have this year?
I taught 3 didactic lectures in the Physician Assistant program on ophthalmology and pulmonology, as well as 2 lectures for the Pharmacy program in gastroenterology. I have also co-precepted first, second, and third year pharmacy students on rotations. I have been involved in the Professional Development courses (I, II, III, and IV), teaching students about abstract writing, professional poster presentations, and grading reflections. During the Spring semester of 2021, I have also served as a mentor for second-year students on SOAP note writing.
5. Can you describe your research project and its impact?
My research project is titled “Determining factors for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among older adults in a medically underserved community.” It consists of an online survey that was conducted to evaluate what the factors for vaccine hesitancy were during the COVID-19 pandemic and if we could find any changes or patterns in how COVID-19 has affected vaccine uptake. We were able to reach 100 patients who are 65 years and older for the survey. As a result, we were able to determine that risks vs. benefits, facts about safety and efficacy, state or local vaccine roll out schedules, and local vaccination sites were the most influential determinants in vaccine usage in this population.
6. Describe your interaction with your residency director and preceptors.
It is very easy for me to talk to my residency program director and preceptors about any topic, whether it be related to the program or personal issues. It is easy to text, call, or email anyone here and talk to them if I needed something. They always make themselves available to me when needed and made me feel welcome. Earlier in 2021, when I had caught COVID-19 and was unable to go into work, everyone was very understanding about working with me to switch things around so that I could work from home while I was sick and make up the time later. My program director also checked up on me regularly, which I appreciated and made me feel more like a part of the UMES-Apple family.
7. What is your most memorable residency experience?
The most memorable residency experience is working the flu clinics in the Fall of 2020. I was able to see the Eastern Shore when I had to travel to go to the clinics. I got to meet and talk to all kinds of people from all walks of life. It was also a learning experience for me because this was one of the first times I had to coprecept students and several of the students were nervous during the vaccination events, which made me step-up as a resident.
8. What are some of the challenges you faced this year as a resident and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge that I saw with this year was that the COVID-19 pandemic restricted my ability to participate in certain types of pharmacy experiences that involved lots of patient interaction. For example, I was very interested in doing ambulatory care and geriatrics rotations, but the clinics and nursing homes did not allow for credentialing of new residents during the height of the pandemic. However, my preceptor were able to get me on a project at UMES that involved telephonic interactions with nursing home patients and was able to create a unique patient care elective in geriatrics for me. With ambulatory care, I was able to co-precept a student who was on an ambulatory care rotation and teach about chronic diseases. I will do my ambulatory care experience at the end of my residency in HIV and primary care, and I appreciated the efforts from my preceptors to give me a chance to have this experience.
9. What skills have you learned as a result of the residency?
Residency requires you to juggle a lot of different projects and responsibilities, and often times, it requires you to work your schedule around other people’s schedules as well. It helped fine tune my time management and project coordination skills. Also, through mentorship and projects with students at UMES and at Apple, I was able to gain new skills in leadership and teaching.
10. What is your message to students interested in pursuing a residency after graduation?
My message to students interested in pursuing residency is to be open to and embrace different opportunities. Through my residency program, I found new interests and was able to create unique projects, which could only happen because the structure of the residency program left a lot of room for creating my own experiences, and also made me go out of my comfort zone.
*** The UMES-Apple Discount Drugs PGY-1 Residency Program has received full American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) accreditation until 2023.***
Apple Discount Drugs Pharmacy
