Table of Contents

1. Life Update

2. Tools and Tips

3. Readers’ Favorite

4. Stuff

Life Update

What Size TV Do You Have?

As a teenager, I bought a 21-inch TV for my room.

It was a fat and heavy Grundig connected to a JVC video player. Both represented my couch-potato years.

When I was a first-year dental student, I bought a flat-screen TV. It was a 32-inch Electra, and I was among the first to have such a big TV—let alone a flat one.

I had a nice DVD library, and it felt like having a movie theater inside my home.

A few years later, shortly after moving in with my future wife, I bought a 55-inch Philips. Again, I was among the first to have such a large screen. I remember how shocked visitors were when they came over.

I had it for 15 years.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new TV.

A 43-inch Samsung.

43 inches.

It's such a small TV, the store didn't even have it on display.

Once again, I'm buying a TV most people don't buy. This time, it's because it's too small.

But I like it.

This TV doesn't dominate our living room.

When it's off, you barely notice it.

It's a great way to reduce the presence of television in our children's lives.

Were our kids happy with this size?

No. 😄

But this is where we are in life.

Number 127!

Tools and Tips

One of the main decisions physicians and dentists must make early in their careers is whether to work at a hospital or private practice.

When I say "hospital," I also mean academic centers, and when I say "private practice," I also mean HMOs ("Kupat Holim," as my Israeli readers know).

These two worlds are so different.

As someone who has experienced both worlds, I want to share 3 factors I found most important before deciding between working at a hospital and private practice.

Let’s dive in:

🔵 Staying Updated

At a hospital, you constantly stay up-to-date.

You don’t have a choice.

You're constantly exposed to the latest scientific literature, receive updates on new protocols, and your colleagues regularly review your work.

Sure, you can stay up-to-date in private practice. You can read protocols and share your work with colleagues, but you must ACTIVELY seek out these opportunities.

At a hospital, staying updated happens naturally through your daily work.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

As someone who works at a hospital, you can guess my preference. But it's a personal choice—and, in my opinion, the most crucial factor to consider when planning your career path.

🔵 Money

That's a big one.

For me, it's not as important as staying updated, but it's certainly up there.

For many professionals, money is the main consideration between hospital work and private practice.

I won't dive deep into the money aspects here, but I will say this: You can’t have them both.

It's a tradeoff ⚖️

In a hospital, you're not on a clock— it's not "X amount of time equals Y amount of money." Instead, you work on long-term projects that require continuous progress.

But working at a hospital typically won't earn as much as in private practice.

This is just the way it is.

Sure, there are exceptions.

But choosing hospital work means forgetting about those big bucks 💰.

🔵 Getting Bored

This brings us to our final point.

While we all want professional growth and financial success, these often pull in opposite directions.

This is where the DYNAMICS of your daily life come into play.

In my experience, this is often the deciding factor between hospital work and private practice.

As someone who works at a hospital, I never (and I mean NEVER) get bored.

Private practice is different. You'll often treat similar cases over and over again.

Don't get me wrong! Doing so will make you better fast— possibly faster than your hospital-based colleagues.

But how interesting your work life becomes depends on YOU.

You may love this routine, or you might find it monotonous.

In my case, staying up-to-date and having a dynamic profession are my top priorities.

That's not everyone's preference.

Good luck!

Readers’ Favorite

Writing a journal can transform your life. Here, I wrote how.

Stuff

💡Gear I use - IKEA one-seat sofa-bed

As a surgeon, I sometimes sleep at the hospital.

Until recently, I had a dedicated sofa-bed in my office.

You know, a sofa you can turn into a bed. But it was ugly.

So I replaced it with a cute 1-seat sofa that looks and feels great.

I absolutely love it.

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

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See you next week!

Shay