You will be convinced that you have actually lost knowledge during your first year. You will be out of balance, professionally and personally. But then you will begin to rally as you learn the rules of residency, adjust to sleep deprivation, and watch your smiling patients go home from the hospital cured of their problems by your intervention. You will discover that you actually know a great deal of clinical medicine. Here comes the risk that your ego will rise out of proportion to your capabilities.
Residency is similar to a blindfolded skydive.
You will survive it and you will be changed by it. I received a valuable lesson during my fourth year of medical school. I went to one of my professors and mentors, Dr. Earl Peacock, and asked him how he seemed to live each day with passion for his work. He was describing purposely seeking encounters with others or situations where one is put off balance and forced to change direction, stop and think, or act in a different way than the day before. There will be collision opportunities in your clinic practice that will strengthen your vigilance and patient skills if you see them and let them change you.